I love you
by Vain Ambitions
Summary: An Asian like drama type of story, revolving around eighteen years old Sakuno, Ryoma and Kevin. A love triangle between them naturally. For people who love romantic stories like me! :D
1. Chapter 1

_As a fan of Ryoma and Kevin, and RyomaXSakuno, and not wanting to write anything Yaoi in case my mind gets corrupted, I've decided to write this Asian drama-like style story. Basically, it's a love triangle between Ryoma-Sakuno-Kevin. _

_Might have lots of chapters. If it's too long winded pls tell me._

_Enjoy and review! ^^_

"Game! Echizen Ryoma! 6 games to 3!"

Wow. Ryoma was as awesome as ever. Sakuno sat at the spectators seat as the rest of Ryoma's fans jumped up and cheered.

"Go Ryoma! We love you!" "Ryoma I love you!" "You're the best, Ryoma!" "Echizen Ryoma you rock!" Those were the typical sentence the loudest of the Ryoma fanclub always shout. Ryoma's fame had increased so much over the years. Most of them were girls. Pretty girls. With blonde hair and big boobs. Sakuno thought with jealousy.

Ryoma had really grown a lot. Tall, same messy hair, cute face with a handsome smirk drawn over it.

Sakuno had decided to come to America to find Ryoma after three years of not seeing him. She had already wanted to come America, as she knew that Ryoma would definitely stay in America. Over the last three years she had studied hard, improving on her English, and managed to get a scholarship in one of the Universities. Studying in America, it was just so to see Ryoma without seeming stupid. Of course, it's for her future too.

Sakuno sighed. Ryoma seemed to be doing good. Her heart beat fast as she thought of the probability that Ryoma might not remember her. Sakuno had been thinking about Ryoma for the whole three year, and had rejected every one of her admirers. Now come to think of it, it was rather stupid. Risking her love life just for a guy who she did not even know whether he liked her.

Sakuno remembered vividly that she had given her phone number to Ryoma, neatly written on a nice piece of pink paper. Ryoma had taken it, folded nicely and put it carefully in his pocket. Then Ryoma smiled and said a soft 'bye' to her, and then left, ignoring his seniors.

However, Ryoma did not call her at all. Why? Did he lose the paper?

Sakuno shook her head. Maybe Ryoma was too busy. He's a tennis pro now.

She walked hesitantly towards Ryoma, who was surrounded by screaming fans and photographers. Ryoma sure was popular. Sakuno's heart gave a squeeze. What if Ryoma was the type that like blonde girls with big boobs? Then a flat, brunette like her would not stand a chance...

Sakuno slowed to a stop and watch as Ryoma's bodyguards shooing the fangirls away. She was scared. Really scared. All the years she had been thinking about Ryoma, she knew she loved Ryoma, but will Ryoma feel this way too?

"Hey." Sakuno spun around and saw a blonde hair guy. She recognised this guy. He was the American guy who went to Japan just to defeat Ryoma, something about a revenge for his father or something. Kevin, his name.

"H...hi." Sakuno said shyly. She had never seen Kevin up so close. He looked friendlier than he seemed in court.

"You better forget about seeing Ryoma. Too much fans." Kevin shrugged.

"Oh..." Sakuno looked down, disappointed. She half-expected it. Ryoma was too popular...

"Ryoma's friend?" He asked casually.

"Yeah. We were... classmates." Sakuno nodded. She added sadly. "But we... don't really talk..." Kevin watched in worry as Sakuno looked like she was about to cry.

"You want to see Ryoma? I can always bring you to the locker room specially." Kevin said, trying to cheer Sakuno up.

"T...thanks." Sakuno smiled. Kevin smiled happily too. Kevin's smiled brought out his handsme features, it practically shined, like it could light up the whole court. It was sincere and genuine. Ryoma never really smiled. At least, not in front of Sakuno...

"I'm Kevin Smith. What's your name, O Great Ryoma's acquaintance?"

Sakuno laughed slightly. "Sakuno. Ryuzaki Sakuno."

Kevin looked shocked, and took a while digesting the information. "Oh... I see, Sakuno, right? Your English is quite good for a Japanese."

Kevin brought Sakuno to a corridor. "Here. Second door to your right, and there's your Ryoma."

Sakuno blushed as Kevin laughed. Kevin was really nice, and quite handsome. She had only noticed Ryoma in the past, and had never paid any attention to anyone else. But Kevin seems quite nice too. She's definitely thanking Kevin after this.

She walked slowly towards the door Kevin told her. She counted her steps to stop her heart from pounding too fast. What was she going to say to him? A 'hi', then what? 'Why didn't you call me?' But it seemed rude...

"Ryoma, you were great! How much stamina do you have?" A girl's voice sounded through the corridor. Sakuno hesitated. Her heart stopped a beat as she wondered who that girl was. She crept quietly towards the door. What Sakuno saw next would be a scene she would never forget.

Ryoma kissing a girl.

XxXxX

Ryuzaki Sakuno.

What a beautiful name. Perfect for such a beautiful face. Her blush was so cute and irresistible. She looked really familiar. Maybe he had seen her before in Japan.

Kevin sighed. He had never thought of this name like this before. Normally it was just a normal name Ryoma talked about a lot, a name that showed Ryoma's cowardness, his only one thing he's not good at, a name that he would roll his eye every time Ryoma talked about her.

Now, when he really saw this girl, this famous Ryuzaki Sakuno, his image of a typical Asian girl changed. He never knew Asian girls were this beautiful. Man Ryoma is so lucky.

Ryoma did not even deserve this wonderful girl. He's so horrible, what did she say, something about never really talked even if they were classmates? Argh damn that anti-social brat...

Kevin wanted Sakuno to himself, but Ryoma liked her, and she seems to like Ryoma too. He sighed again. Being Ryoma's friend, he would not betray him.

Kevin snapped out of his thoughts when he saw Sakuno running back. "Hey, hey, Sakuno, where are you running to?" He stopped Sakuno, and to his surprise, Sakuno was crying. Really badly. He panicked.

"W...why are you crying?" He tried to comfort Sakuno as Sakuno slumped onto him, sniffing and slobbering. "Calm down, easy..." Kevin hugged Sakuno awkwardly, patting her as her shoulders heaved up and down uncontrollably.

What on Earth did Ryoma say to this girl? Horrible Ryoma. How could he even make such a pretty girl cry, even after talking about her so much as if he really loved her or something? He was so going to scold Ryoma after this.

"Here, let's go outside. Then you can tell me exactly what happened." Kevin suggested as Sakuno wiped her tears.

Kevin helped Sakuno out. Her skin was really smooth and nice to touch.

He offered Sakuno a piece of tissue, which she used and clumsily wiped her face.

"Okay, what's wrong." Kevin asked when Sakuno seemed to calm down. Sakuno immediately started crying again.

"Ryoma-kun...he was... he..." Sakuno choked on her tears and burst into more tears.

"Calm down, okay?" Kevin squeezed Sakuno's shoulders. "Why not try and tell me in Japanese? I can understand it well enough. Would that help?"

Sakuno sobbed, taking Kevin's advice. "Ryoma-kun...he was... he was kissing a girl..." Kevin shook her encouragingly, sensing that Sakuno was about to burst to tears again.

"A girl, huh." Kevin mused. Ryoma never liked any girl. Not any girl other than those that he talked about, which were only Sakuno and his mother. However, Ryoma would still kiss a girl, even those that he did not like. After all, his team's policy is to push every member to a status of a superstar, so Ryoma had to be more active and social with his fans to boost his popularity. Which, Kevin suspected, included making the fans happy by dating them, kissing them, and sleep with them. Kevin had heard Ryoma complaining about the contract, grumbling that his hands had been tired from hugging his fans.

Well, but immediately after a match was unlikely. "How does she look like?"

Sakuno frowned, thinking hard. "I don't remember. I didn't see her very well. I just ran the moment I witnessed the scene. I... I didn't want Ryoma-kun to see me. I'm not even sure that person he kissed was a girl..."

Kevin burst into hysteria, laughing hard as Sakuno blushed. "Don't worry, Ryoma's not gay, he's as normal as his father."

Kevin stopped when he noticed how angst Sakuno looked. That Ryoma. If he liked Sakuno so much he should not have signed that damn contract and joined that team. Geez, tallking to me so much about wanting to talk to Sakuno, when he knew fully that the contract stopped him from communication with anybody other than his family members and a limited amount of authorised friend. Stupid Ryoma. Now because of your stupid contract you are hurting Sakuno!

"Hey, Cheer up." Kevin stared at Sakuno, then grabbed her hand. He was going to be the one that made Sakuno feel alright. Then he could scold Ryoma and ask him to come personally and apologise. "Come, I'll bring you to somewhere fun!"

Sakuno ran along, wiping her tears, smiling finally. "Where to, Kevin-kun?"

"Nah, just call me Kevin. This is not Japan. You'll sound weird."

"Okay then, Kevin, where are we going?" Sakuno laughed.

"You'll know when we get there."

XxXxX

_Mini Pink Boe: Okay, now let's interview some of our very special cast. Sakuno!_

_Sakuno: H...hi._

_MPB: So, Sakuno how did you feel like being the main character?_

_Sakuno: Not sure... Okay I guess... What will happen to me in the end?_

_MPB: Not sure, maybe I will have you torn apart between Ryoma and Kevin literally. After all, see the way they fight._

_Sakuno: What? No way! Please don't do that!_

_MPB: Sure won't. If people reading this review..._

_Sakuno: Btw what school am I in?_

_MPB: Not sure... Hey readers if you live in America please suggest some good school Sakuno could go to, good, but possible for a person with horrid speaking skills to get in._

_Sakuno: Hey!_

_MPB: Hope you enjoy this chapter! XD_


	2. Chapter 2

Ryoma broke apart from Jennifer aggressively, pushing her away, wiping his mouth and panting. Jennifer was laughing. "What's up, can't take it anymore?" She walked towards Ryoma, ignoring his resistance, and tugged on his shirt.

Ryoma grabbed Jennifer's hands away from his shirt. "I think someone saw us."

Jennifer turned around. "Oh, the door is opened. But no one will come here, Ryoma, nobody knows this place."

Ryoma stared at the door. He was sure that he saw a person. It was swift and short, but his eyes never betrayed him.

But who? Jennifer was right, no one knows of this room, even if they knew, they won't know how to get in here, so it was impossible for anybody to come in here. The only people who knew were Jennifer and the rest of the team. The others were out of the competition, so they would not come here at all, unless they actually took the trouble to come watch him, which were unlikely. He knew how the others hated him.

Wait, Kevin would come watch him.

Darn him. He must have accepted a bribery from one of his fans and brought her here. Che.

He's going to hit his roommate with a racket when he gets back.

"Stop it, Jennifer, please." Ryoma pleaded as Jennifer's hands were unbuttoning his shirt. "I need to rest for tomorrow's practice."

"Okay, then." The beautiful woman pouted. "Just one more kiss." When she saw how much Ryoma was resisting. "Come on, one more kiss. I'll let you end early in tomorrow's training."

Ryoma groaned as his manager pulled him up for a kiss.

"Goodbye, have a nice rest!" Jennifer said, finally leaving. "Oh by the way." She pulled out a ring from her hands. "This is from your father. I don't want it." She threw it to the young boy and left.

Ryoma caught it. His father was so pathetic. He brought it up close to his face and examined it. The ring was small, but really shiny. It was totally transparent, and it reflected the light all over the room. Ryoma wiped it and smiled. Sakuno would look great on this.

He took out a pink paper with Sakuno's phone number written on it and wrapped it around the ring. One more year, one more year of the contract and he could finally call Sakuno. Three years, it had been three years since he saw Sakuno, and he missed Sakuno, a lot. He did not show his emotions to anyone, only to Kevin, which was inevitable since they were roommates. Slowly and carefully, he put the ring in his pocket.

Ryoma hated this contract. Why did he signed it in the firs place? It's tiresome, it's torturing, it drained away all of his privacy, it's plain horid. The manager of this team was crazy too. Absolutely fanatic. The coach was hundred times worse than Ryuzaki sensei + Inui sempai.

And the fans. Ryoma would rather have a thousand Tomoka. Those horrible, retarded, despicable fans, making up fanfiction about him liking people which he did not even know, when all his life he had only loved Sakuno, and Sakuno only.

He sighed. Too bad, he signed the contract. Just one more year and he could get out of this living hell, and finally see Sakuno.

XxXxX

Sakuno had always dreaded this. She had always feared that Ryoma might not like her. Ryoma had always ignored her, giving her the cold shoulders. Yet she had always held a hope, a small pahetic ray of hope that Ryoma had liked her.

Now, she had to face her fears, the reality. Ryoma did not like her. He was too popular. In high school Sakuno could tell that the whole class were desperately trying to get his attention. She had too many competitors, and she did not stand out. All she ever did was to stand quietly outside the court, silently cheering for him. Of course Ryoma would not notice her. She did not even try to dress up or shout like what Tomo-chan did. Now looking at it, there's no way Ryoma could possibly have liked her. Ryoma...

Maybe she should just give up on Ryoma. It's no use wasting the whole life for someone. Sakuno had already wasted half of her life away. It's time to start anew.

"Kevin, please tell me, where are we going?" She asked the excited blond.

They were on the bus now, heading towards God-and-Kevin-know-where.

Kevin winked. "Somewhere fun. You'll know when we get there."

Sakuno pouted, and blushed when Kevin laughed.

Kevin was a really nice person. He's charismatic, he talks a lot and is able to get you talking along with him as well. He's considerate about the way people would feel, and he smiles a lot. He's completely different from Ryoma, and he's likeable. It was...more comfortable being with Kevin.

"We're here." Kevin announced. He led Sakuno out of the bus, and Sakuno was hit with a big sign with big prints: Disneyland.

Sakuno stared, mouth agape.

"How about staying here for 4 days to finish all the rides here?"

"Are you crazy?" Sakuno laughed. She had never felt so excited before. Well, she had always wanted to go Disneyland. "School starts next week!"

"Three days to prepare is more than enough. Come on, I have two free tickets to Disneyland anyway, I've always wanted to come here. Now's the chance, will you come with me?"

Sakuno blushed, and nodded.

"Great!" Kevin grinned widely, tugging Sakuno towards the ticket office.

XxXxX

Kevin slumped on his bed, contented at today's event. The hotel had nice bed...

Kevin actually wanted to share a room with Sakuno, but Sakuno declined profusely, blushing so deep that Kevin had to stop requesting or else Sakuno's face would burst. But at least their rooms were linked together with a door.

Sigh, Sakuno was a really great girl. Once you get her to open up, she talks a lot. Her favourite band was Linkin Park, she loves Britney Spears songs, she longed to learn the guitar and she loved dark chocolates. She finds kiddyy rides sweet, and squeals at every cute item. She screams a lot in thrill rides, and will subconsciously hug Kevin in horror rides. Kevin still remembered the smell of her hair, and the warmth of her body. She's a really fun girl to be with.

He stared at his phone. This is such a wonderful girl. He's not allowing Ryoma to break her heart. Ryoma's going to explain his behaviour for kissing a girl right after a match!

"Yo Ryoma."

"What do you want, Kevin?" Ryoma sounded tired.

There was a slight pause for Kevin to take a deep breath, then...

"I'm going to whack your head wih a racket!" "I'm going to whack your head wih a racket!" They shouted together at the same time.

"What?" Kevin was confused. "Why do you want to whack me?"

"For bringing a fan into our secret basement."

"It's not a secret basement, it's just a locker room..."

"It's the only place the fans won't bother me after a match and now you brought a fan over we can't enjoy our privacy anymore. She'll tell everyone and soon our locker room will be filled with screaming fangirls." Ryoma said all those calmly and with a single breath.

"Tell me who and why did you kiss in our secret basement?" Kevin asked, ignoring Ryoma.

"Right, so the fan told you that? Soon she's going to tell the whole world..." Ryoma was pissed, Kevin could tell. He was talking a lot more than usual.

"Just tell me who and why did you kiss!" Kevin said, equally pissed.

There was silence.

"Jennifer."

"What?"

"You don't have to shout at the phone, Kevin."

"What were you trying to do, kissing our team mananger? I didn't know that you liked older women."

"I do not like older women."

"Then why did you kiss her."

"I didn't. She pulled me for a kiss."

"And you didn't resist."

"I was too tired to fight. My opponent was a tough guy."

"And you let her kiss you."

"For a while."

Kevin clenched his fists. 'For a while' broke Sakuno's heart. 'For a while' made Sakuno so depressed that she cried on the bus silently, only truly smiling when they reached Disneyland.

"My turn to interrogate. Why did you bring that fan over?"

"She was someone you know."

"Who?"

Kevin opened his mouth to answer, and hesitated. He wanted to keep Sakuno to himself. Telling Ryoma about Sakuno would make Ryoma come and reconcile, and Sakuno would disappear from his life. But he should not keep this away from Ryoma, Ryoma was his friend.

It's just for four days. Kevin would tell him after he had his fun in this four days with Sakuno. After all, Ryoma did something horrible to Sakuno, and Sakuno would not want to face Ryoma for now. Take it as a punishment for Ryoma.

"Well?"

"I...It's no one. I've been tricked."

"Che, you're so gullible. For a moment I thought Sakuno had come back."

Kevin was immediately filled with guilt. He decided to change the topic. "When did the relationship start?"

"With Jennifer?"

"Yeah."

"Three months ago. After she broke up with Daryl." [A/N: Another member in the team.]

"Daryl? What is... is Jennifer dating everyone in the team?"

"Not sure. I think only the regulars."

"Wow, another reason for me not to join the regulars." Kevin gulped. The first reason was the way they trained the regulars. Kevin had saw how late Ryoma came home everyday, how the coach shouted mercilessly at them everyday during training. Kevin had witness the punishment they gave for not being up to expectations, and how little break they spared them. Kevin shuddered at the thought of it.

"Che, coward."

"Coward? Hey I can't stand kissing someone I don't even like."

"Hn. I don't like it either. But it helped me earned an early release from training tomorrow."

"The others will hate you for that."

"I don't care. By the way I'm changing phone number again. Some fan figured out my phone number. Text you when I get it."

"Sure, bye."

Ryoma hanged up without saying goodbye. What a rude child. Kevin stared at his phone. Sakuno was here with him, and he did not tell Ryoma. He liked Sakuno, and now he wanted her all to himself, when Ryoma longed for her the whole three years.

"I'm such a horrible person!" Kevin threw a pillow over his head and covered his face.

XxXxX

_End of chapter! Hoped you liked it. Do you want me to include details from the disneyland next chapter, and see exactly how they progressed? If not I'll just skim through the whole part and show more of the others._

_Hopefully you liked this chapter and the conversation isn't too boring for you, and that you understood my story so far. Any enquiries feel free to ask. Reviews! _


	3. Chapter 3

_Sorry I didn't add scenes from disneyland. Decided to change the order a bit. But anyway please still do enjoy it. Read and review! :D_

_XxXxX_

Sakuno's favourite ice-cream flavour is strawberry, the sweeter the better. Sakuno especially loved water rides, and loved getting wet. Sakuno disliked rides that spin her around like the teacup rides...

Throughout the whole four days, Kevin was recording in his mind information about Sakuno. This girl just thoroughly fascinates him. The more he found out about her, the more he wanted her. Every time he woke up all his heart yearned for was to be with Sakuno. Sakuno...she was just like a drug to him; he would start feeling uncomfortable whenever he left Sakuno, and would think about her almost every minute, but would feel elated, almost ecstatic whenever she's around.

He wanted these four days to be used to spend all his time with Sakuno, thoroughly enjoying her presence, and then leave her to Ryoma forever. But he had underestimated Sakuno's attractivity. He seemed to have grown more in love with Sakuno as time passed.

And he meant it, a lot, when he said "I will miss you." to Sakuno.

Sakuno giggled. "Oh that's so sweet Kevin. Thank you for these four days. It really cheered me up." Sakuno beamed widely at Kevin as he stared, mesmerised, at Sakuno's beauty.

"It's okay. Glad you recovered from your love sickness." Kevin's heart gave a squeeze when he remembered that he should not fall in love with Sakuno. Sakuno was Ryoma's girl!

"Yeah. In these four days I have thought about it very seriously. I have decided to forget about Ryoma."

"Really?" Kevin asked, overly excited. His heart were received with another pang of guilt; he was wishing, all along, for Sakuno to give up on Ryoma, and maybe, just maybe, come to him instead. It was a thought that was a crime by itself; how could he possibly let this despicable thought cross his mind?

"After all, there are a lot of other better men in this world. Ryoma is not the only male living." Sakuno continued and started blushing. "And, in these four days, I've realised, that there are people that cared for me, there are people that will really treat me well...like you."

Kevin blinked, as he stared at Sakuno, digesting what she said. Damn it, forget about having this sinful thought about betraying his friend, forget about trying to resist himself to love Sakuno. Kevin did not cared about anything in the world when he heard that sentence. He grabbed Sakuno's hands. "I care for you, Sakuno, and I will definitely do my very best to treat you really well."

Sakuno's face flushed red, and if possible, even redder when Kevin asked, very gently. "Will you go out with me again next week? I will really miss you when you're gone."

Sakuno nodded shyly, and Kevin felt like it was the happiest day in his life. He was going to see Sakuno again, and this nod proved that the next time they meet, they would be legally together; Sakuno had agreed to go out with him, this means...this means that Sakuno had agreed to be his girlfriend! He squeezed Sakuno's hands, trembling with happiness.

"I like you, Sakuno." Kevin said sincerely, gazing into Sakuno's eyes. "I really like you." Kevin wanted to shout madly at her how much he loved her, but it was too early for that. He watched as he saw Sakuno blush even deeper, and indulged in the scene of her irresistably red face.

"I'll send you home." Kevin said, walking out of the entrance to their hotel while holding Sakuno's hand.

"Thanks." Sakuno smiled. Kevin felt that Sakuno's smile was the best treasure a person could get.

But Sakuno was Ryoma's girl.

Kevin frowned as he bit his lips. But Ryoma did not care for her. From what Sakuno said, Ryoma did not even talked to her one bit, and ignored her most of the time. Ryoma had made Sakuno felt depressed and upset, and it was all thanks to Kevin that Sakuno was cheerful again. Kevin deserved all the credit of making Sakuno felt like someone cared for her; Ryoma never did anything for her, Ryoma did not deserve to be with Sakuno, a girl he neglected, a girl he loved, who used to like him but would never like him again. Kevin was the one who opened Sakuno and got to know everything about her: what she liked, what she wanted...

Sakuno was Ryoma's girl, but now, Sakuno is Kevin's girl. Furthermore, Sakuno was the one that chose to forget Ryoma and go out with him.

Kevin smiled as he looked at Sakuno gazing out of the window. It's wrong to betray a friend, but nothing was wrong when Sakuno was next to him.

"I'm sorry, Ryoma." Kevin whispered under his breath, meaning every word he said.

XxXxX

"Where were you these past four days?" Ryoma asked.

"I was...erm...in Disneyland." Kevin said, busy picking at the strings in his racket.

"Disneyland?" Ryoma frowned. "You mean the free ticket for two that you received?" Kevin nodded. "I thought you said you were going with me."

Kevin shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "Well, it's very troublesome and long to wait for you to get your simple four-day leave permit."

"Simple? Four-day leave is long and complex. So who did you go with in the end?"

Kevin was fidgeting with his racket unnecessarily. "I...erm...I went with a girl..."

"Your girlfriend?" Ryoma smiled cheekily.

Kevin kind of blushed, and fidgeted even more with his racket, shuffling his feet as well. "Yeah...something like that."

"Something like that?" Ryoma raised an eyebrow. "What wrong with you, Kevin, you're acting weird."

Kevin looked... sad, almost guilty, and he seemed to have difficulties breathing. A few hours ago when he saw Kevin talking to some other teammates, he was still in his usual gay and joyous mood. But when Ryoma tapped his shoulders, his mood drastically turned 180 degrees immediately, and he started acting really weird.

He always looked down at his shoes, he moved around quite a lot, which was distracting. He's... there's no other word to describe it, he's really weird today.

"What's up?" Ryoma asked, quite worried. "What did your girlfriend do to you?"

Kevin seemed to be shocked whenever Ryoma mentioned a girl or his girlfriend. The way Kevin shook his head frantically and stuttering "N...nothing..." made it more suspicious.

"Okay, if you don't want to talk about it, I won't ask." Ryoma shrugged, giving up. He walked over to his practice area. Kevin followed suit.

"Why is everyone staring?" Kevin asked, looking around.

"It's always like this." Ryoma said nonchalantly. His other teammates hated him. Jealousy. These kinds of evil feelings were useless and pathetic, and Ryoma despised people who had these feelings. He did not understand why would they be jealous. So what if I'm better than you? You're just mada mada, but you could still improve. Just train hard and try and catch me, as simple as that. Sometimes, human emotions are really weird and unexplainable.

"I mean, why are they staring at me too? Normally, they only stared at you." Kevin frowned, looking kind of scared.

Ryoma looked around. True, they were staring daggers at Kevin too. "Maybe because you disappeared for four days and didn't get punished."

"Oh." Kevin said, face blank with shock. Ryoma watched, amused, as his shock in his face grew. "After today they will hate me even more." Kevin said dejectedly.

"Hn." Ryoma said as they reached an empty spot. "No courts available, let's just warm up using this wall here."

He threw up the ball and hit it to the wall. It bounced off to Kevin. Kevin received it, hitting back to the wall.

"I'm going away early today. They'll hate me for sure." Kevin sighed.

Ryoma hit the ball towards the wall.

"I'm going to watch a movie, the first premiere of XDXD (A/N: A new movie...) too. Gosh, they'll hate me even more for that."

Kevin hit the ball back towards the wall.

They played for quite a while, with Kevin constantly worrying about the teammates hating him. It was unnatural, for him to worry this much on the way people feel about him. Ryoma figured it was to distract him from the thought about his girlfriend problem. But watching movies should be a good sign.

"Che. Heck care about what they think." Ryoma caught the ball with his hand and walked towards the middle as the coach arrived. "Good luck with your girlfriend though." Ryoma chuckled playfully as he left.

Kevin did not catch up with him like usual, so Ryoma turned around and saw a crestfallen and abashed blonde. What's up with him? What the hell happened to him? Ryoma frowned as he watched his usually cheerful friend trudged slowly, heads down and very depressed.

Ryoma shook his head. What can he do? He was never good in comforting someone.

Let's just focus on training.

XxXxX

Sakuno still needed some time to get used to this. Firstly, everyone here spoke English, so it was weird for her. Secondly, everyone seemed to be staring at her, like she had something dirty on her face. It...it needs time to adapt into a new environment. It was going to be difficult. Sakuno sighed.

She walked towards the exit. Kevin was going to bring her to the movies. It was fun to be with Kevin. In Disneyland, Kevin and she would queue for hours for a ride, and talked about random stuff throughout the long hours. Sakuno told Kevin things that she never told anyone, not Tomo-chan, not her grandmother, not anyone. And Kevin would smile and listen to her patiently. Sakuno would feel so happy together with Kevin...

What's the commotion over there?

Sakuno walked towards the crowd.

"I saw him on television!" "Hey, isn't he the one in the same team as Echizen Ryoma?" "Yeah, the one that Echizen Ryoma talks to and laughed to." "Yeah, his best friend or something." "He's hot." "What is he doing here?" "Hi, you're Kevin, right?" "I know how to play tennis, can you play with me?" "Go out with me!"

"Sakuno!" Kevin pushed his way out of the crowd, shouting with relief. "Man your school is big. Come on, let's go." He grabbed Sakuno's hands and walked away.

Sakuno could feel them drilling their eyes into her. She blushed and avoided anyone's eyes as she followed Kevin out.

"You don't have to come to my school, you know."

Kevin smiled. "Just wanted to pick you up. Let's go."

Kevin bought a couple seat and sat on it comfortably. Sakuno flushed red as she sat next to Kevin, her skin touching his.

"Do you cry when watching romance movies?" Kevin asked, taking out a packet of tissue. "Because if you are I've got some backup." Sakuno laughed. "I might need some tissue, thanks."

And truly, she needed it. A lot of it.

The main character was so in love with this boy, yet this boy did not love back. This boy, this horrible boy, he was so lucky to have such a caring, loving girlfriend, yet he went and betrayed her. How could this be? How could he have done that? That was the most horrible thing one could have done in a lifetime. It was comparable to murdering someone. It's heartless, cruel and... pure evil. How could you have done that, Ryoma? You do know how much I loved you, I can tell, I mean, I was so obvious in my feelings towards you, so why do you have to go and betray me? If you don't like me, why don't you tell me in the first place and save all my troubles, all my time wasted, all my tears and broken heart?

Sakuno cried as much as she wanted, using up all of Kevin's tissue. She had never really cried as Kevin was cheering her up all these times. Now, she finally have the chance to cry everything out. She hated the boy, she hated how he cheated on her, using her love to his advantage! I hate him! I hate you! I hate you, Ryoma!

Kevin stared at Sakuno as she cried uncontrollably. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Sakuno rested her head onto Kevin's shoulders, as Kevin pulled her closer.

It's okay, there's still the nice boy. He treated the main character well, all the main character had to do was to forget and let go of her past. Sakuno sniffed and continued sobbing as she snuggled further into Kevin's arm as Kevin hugged her closer. Kevin's hands were warm and comforting. At least Kevin cared for her.

The movie ended, and Sakuno was still blowing at her nose. Then she saw how close she was to Kevin, and she pushed herself away from Kevin, turning into crimson red.

Kevin coughed awkwardly. "Well, you sure can cry a lot. I underestimated your tears. Let's go eat dinner."

Sakuno shook her heaad. "With my swollen eyes? No way! Please let's just watch the credits."

Kevin smiled, and shrugged. "Sure."

They sat in the seat watching the names of roles appearing slowly.

"Hey Sakuno."

"Yeah?"

"Erm, wanna come my house next weekend to, you know, maybe I can help in your studies."

"I'm majoring in math, Kevin, you sure you want to help?"

"Oh, on second thoughts, not really. How about, erm, come my house bake a cake?"

"Bake a cake? Sure."

"I'll come fetch you?"

"Okay."

It's fun being around with Kevin, and Sakuno enjoyed it a lot. Maybe it was a good thing forgetting about Ryoma. Sakuno smiled as she looked forward to the next weekend.

_XxXxX_

_Am I going too fast? Or going to slow? I think next chapter gonna dedicated to Kevin and Sakuno so I'm going to make it either long or short based on your interest. Please review and tell me! :D_


	4. Chapter 4

_Someone's threatening to kill me three times in a row. -.-_

_Hello guys I am also a RyoSaku fan too! I'm definitely going to end them up together, it's not even a spoiler. So just relax, read on, and review. :D_

XxXxX

-Three weeks later -

"You're good." Kevin said, after they had just played a short friendly match together.

Sakuno smiled. "Thanks." This was the result of her practising every night whenever she was thinking about Ryoma. She would hit against the wall and reminisced about the time where Ryoma was teaching her tennis.

Sakuno had always wanted to play tennis with Ryoma. She knew that it was impossible, so she decided to play with Kevin instead. Kevin was a tennis pro too.

Kevin had brought Sakuno here to the stadium where they had first met after eating dinner together. Then Sakuno had her best match ever played yet. Sakuno wiped her sweat with a towel and drank some water.

"Let's go."

"Where to?"

"Up to the locker room. I left some stuff there during my match last week." Kevin said, leading Sakuno towards the locker room.

"Can I not go?" Sakuno asked. The locker room was the dreaded place that Sakuno had witnessed the most horrible scene in her life.

Kevin took her hand encouragingly. "It's alright. It's a friday night, no one will be here."

Sakuno bit her lips, and slowly, rather reluctantly, nodded and went with Kevin.

Sakuno sat down carefully on the bench in the locker room and watched as Kevin took his stuff out.

"Hey Sakuno."

"Yeah?"

Kevin walked uncomfortably towards Sakuno. "I...I want to try something..."

"What?" Sakuno asked as Kevin pulled her up.

Kevin leaned close to her, and she could feel his breath tickling her. Her blood rushed up to her face as Kevin hugged her around the waist and pulled her closer.

"Wha..." Sakuno could not finish her sentence as Kevin pressed his lips into the others softly.

The kiss was gentle, and really delicious. Sakuno could feel all her blood rushing into her head. It was her first kiss. Her first kiss...ever...

They broke apart shortly after, and they stared at each other, face flushed, for a long time. She had always wanted to leave her first kiss to Ryoma, so she was kind of shocked when Kevin kissed her. It's okay, though, it was impossible for Ryoma to kiss her. She smiled a bit, staring at Kevin, as he stared back as well, face also blushing.

"What do you think you're doing?"

The couple turned around sharply.

"Ryoma." Kevin said, shocked. The green haired male was standing just outside the door, witnessing the kissing scene just like how Sakuno witnessed his.

"What..." Ryoma did not continue as he stared at Sakuno.

"Ryuzaki?" Ryoma said as his eyes widened. He looked at Kevin and looked at Sakuno, with a blank look as if he was unable to figure something out.

"When did you come to America?"

"About a month..." Sakuno answered, and watched as Ryoma dropped his racket in shock as he looked like he realised something finally.

He walked towards them, as Kevin released his grip on Sakuno. "Ryoma, I...I can explain..." He walked towards Ryoma, putting his hands onto his shoulders.

"Fuck you!" Ryoma shook off Kevin's hands and punched Kevin on his face. Kevin collapsed onto the bench. Ryoma used the opportunity and pinned Kevin to the ground, punching him some more. Kevin pushed Ryoma to the side and he crashed onto the wall. Kevin struggled to stand up, and Ryoma wasted no time in pushing him down again.

"Ryoma, what are you doing?" Sakuno screamed, pulling Ryoma away from Kevin. It was no use, Ryoma was too strong. Sakuno bit her lips. She risked her life and placed herself in between them.

"Stop it, Ryoma!" Sakuno shrieked as Ryoma's fist seemed to be coming in towards her.

Ryoma's fist somehow managed to stop just in front of Sakuno.

"Get lost, Ryuzaki." Ryoma growled.

Sakuno felt tears welling up her eyes. Ryoma was glaring at her with such fury in his eyes it was scaring her. "I'm not." She said stubbornly. They glared at each other for a really long time.

"What are you doing here in America?" Ryoma asked, pulling his cap down to cover his eyes. His voice was soft and thick.

"I'm studying. I got a scholarship."

Ryoma nodded. "Right, in America for one whole month and I don't know about it." Ryoma bend down and got his racket. "Fuck you, Kevin." He threw these words as he slammed the door.

"What's wrong with him?" Sakuno asked, helping Kevin up. "Are you okay?"

Kevin shook his head, pushing Sakuno away from him. "It's okay, don't care about me." He walked a step forward, and fell down again. Sakuno caught him.

"Come on, let me help you." Sakuno held Kevin. They walked back home together.

"What's wrong with him? I mean, what is wrong with him? He just came and punched you, just like that, no reason at all. He's so unreasonable. He just punched you before you could even say anything. He's unbelievable." Sakuno exclaimed angrily.

Kevin remained quiet.

"And he even told me to get lost. No one have ever told me to get lost before, and I never thought in my whole life that he would be the one that would tell me that. The way he stared at me, I...I thought he was going to kill me. It's so... frightening. I...I was so...his eyes..." Sakuno stopped and wiped her eyes.

Why was she crying? Why did she have to cry? The way Ryoma glared at her, shouted at her, it just made her tears come out. Stop crying, Sakuno! There's nothing to cry about.

Kevin wiped her tears away from her eyes, and gave her a peck on her cheeks. "Don't cry." The way he said, the amount of sadness leaked out from his voice, it just made Sakuno want to cry more.

"What's to him? Why did he punch you? What did you do to him?"

There was a moment of silence as Kevin stared blankly guiltily. "I betrayed him."

"What do you mean?"

"I kept you away from him."

Sakuno kept quiet for while. "I don't get it. So what? Even if I have not met you, I would still not meet Ryoma." She sighed. "I wouldn't dare." She added sadly.

Kevin stared at Sakuno. "Let's just forget it, okay." He smoothed Sakuno's hair. "But you must always remember that I love you. A lot."

They walked silently.

Ryoma was so weird.

The look on Ryoma's eyes appeared in her head again. Sakuno shook her head to drive it away. Why was she thinking so much about Ryoma? She was supposed to forget about him in these days with Kevin. Sakuno was so happy with Kevin, she was supposed to like Kevin and let go of Ryoma.

"_Get lost Ryuzaki."_

Sakuno bit her lips as Ryoma's voice echoed over and over again in her head. Tears were welling up her eyes again.

Okay, stop thinking about Ryoma! Let's think about...

Question 14b. Yes, it's a real hard question, Sakuno was spending weeks on figuring it out. Now how do you solve it...

-Saturday -

Ryoma had never cried so much before. Ryoma had never cried at all, as long as he could remember. He had always thought crying was cowardly and useless, and a waste of water in the body.

Yet, yesterday night he had cried himself to sleep, in front of his butler and his servants. It was embarrassing, so he had decided to lock himself up in his room this morning and think things through thoroughly.

Sakuno arrived in America last month to study in America. No mater how much Ryoma dug his brain, he could not think of why Sakuno would meet Kevin instead of Ryoma. There was no way. If Sakuno had to find someone, it would be Ryoma. Then how did Kevin get into the picture?

Kevin, ever since he went to Disneyland, he was acting weird. He went to Disneyland last month. Sakuno arrived at America last month. Kevin knew how much Ryoma loved Sakuno. He knew Sakuno, since Ryoma had been talking to him about her. Kevin was always going out somewhere during weekends, friday nights, and always left early for practice.

Yes, everything was coming to piece.

Kevin must have somehow met Sakuno, liked her, and brought her to Disneyland. He played with Sakuno for four days, and came back without telling Ryoma that Sakuno was here. He was acting weird because he knew Ryoma loved Sakuno, and he was taking Sakuno away from him. Then Kevin started having dates with Sakuno, and got closer to Sakuno while leaving Ryoma in the dark.

And throughout the whole month, Ryoma was trying to figure out what was wrong with Kevin, and even wished him luck with his 'girlfriend'.

Ryoma punched the pillow angrily.

Why did Kevin do this? There's so many girls in the world, why must he want Sakuno? Why must they always fight over the same thing?

Ryoma punched the pillow over and over, imagining that it was Kevin. He threw the pillow to the wall, panting. His nose were getting sour again, and tears started coming out from his eyes again.

The only person in the team he thought he could trust betrayed him. The person whom he had always told his troubles to, whom he had treated as a friend snatched his girl away. Fuck you, Kevin!

Maybe, there was no such thing as a friend. There was no one to be trusted in this whole world, everyone would backstab you, betray you, and there's no one to be trusted at all!

Why did he still went for Sakuno even after knowing how much Ryoma loved her?

Sakuno... He had always ignored her, so he had always wanted to make up to her. He planned to find Sakuno after his contract ends, and it had always been the motivation for him to practice hard everyday. The thought of seeing Sakuno in Japan after this was what drove him to continue training no matter how torturous it might be.

Sakuno. Ryoma never admitted it, but he appreciated the way Sakuno cheered for him all the time. Not too loud like Tomoko, but silently and enough to drive Ryoma forward. He loved the food Sakuno made for her, it was even better than his mother's food. He loved the way Sakuno trained hard in tennis; if she had started earlier, she would have the potential to beat Ryoma.

He had always thought Sakuno was definitely going to be his, but no, Kevin took her away.

He wiped his tears away agressively. He hated people who cried, it was useless and cowardly, and a waste of water in the body. So he was not going to cry. He's going to take actions.

Kevin snatched Sakuno away from him, he's taking Sakuno back.

Sakuno's mine, and mine only. Ryoma thought angrily as he finally opened his door.

"Young master!" His butler who had been waiting outside exclaimed happily. "I'm so worried! Are you hungry? I have already told them to prepare your breakfast. You have to eat your breakfast, and hurry to the tennis court to practice."

Ryoma shut his butler up with the pink piece of paper. "Check where this person stays. I'm skipping practice for today."

His butler took the piece of paper. "But, you have booked the whole tennis court for the whole day, young master, you have to go. And you have a very important match next week!"

"It's just one day of not practicing. And correction, my match is next next week. Now stop worrying and go and check the address of the person!" Ryoma snapped. His butler bowed, and set off to answer his order.

Kevin you're so dead.

XxXxX

_Hi what do you think? :D_

_I was a bit distracted while writing this, so it is not my best result, but still I tried my best. Review! :D_


	5. Chapter 5

_Sorry I updated so late! This is the lamest chapter I have ever wrote! But we're reaching the best part! Hold your breath!_

_Read, enjoy, and review!_

XxXxX

Sakuno poured milk into the cup Kevin bought for her. Nothing better than a warm milk to start the day. Sakuno smiled as she drank the cup allowing the milk to warm her stomach.

Today's plan: digest yesterday's lecture, do more research on her essay, read some of the books she borrowed from the school library. She drank another gulp of millk as she walked happily into her room.

There's a person in her room, playing with her phone. Who would come to her room in a Saturday morning?

She lowered her cup to recognise the visitor.

He had green hair and was wearing a white fila cap. He saw her coming in, and stared at her with his cat-like eye. "Hi."

"Ptff!" Sakuno choked on her milk, spitting some onto her books, spilling her milk on the floor.

Ryoma rushed over to help her, holding the cup as it looked like Sakuno was going to drop it. Sakuno coughed very badly, and Ryoma was hitting on her back softly.

"You okay?" He asked, when Sakuno calmed down.

"How'd you get in here?" Sakuno took the cup away from Ryoma and put it down safely on the table.

"Not a real problem." Ryoma watched as Sakuno took out a tissue and wiped the books. "It seems that the security guard is not as fierce as he looks. When it comes down to it he's a pretty easy-going guy. And your neighbours are real helpful in assisting me in finding your room." He said simply.

Sakuno groaned and went to her window. Sure enough, there were a huge crowd of people gathering outside her room, pointing and shouting at her window.

"Why are you here? What do you want?"

Ryoma shrugged. "I came to see you."

Sakuno stared at Ryoma in disbelief. He came to see her? After so many years of waiting, of trying to capture his attention in vain, he never came to her. And now when Sakuno did not want to see Ryoma anymore, he just appeared in front of her.

Sakuno went to her storeroom and got a mop out. "I need to study. If you don't mind, please leave."

"Well, I mind. I'll just stay here and watch you study."

Sakuno cleaned up the mess on her floor. "Whatever."

She put the mop back to the storeroom. If Ryoma was not planning on leaving, she was going to bore him so much that he leave by himself.

What was her first plan for today? Oh yeah, digest yesterday's lecture.

She sat herself on her chair, and started reading her notes. She could sense Ryoma's eyes boring into her, and she could feel her blood rushing to her face. The words in her notes did not seem to get into her as her head was concentrating too much on trying not to catch Ryoma's eye contact.

It had been ten minutes, and she had not even understood a paragraph of it. She need to increase her speed or else she would not finish this at all today.

She looked up at Ryoma. Ryoma was sitting on her bed, reading one of her library books titled 'the fourth dimension'. She chuckled silently. She doubted Ryoma could even understand half of it. He seemed really intense into reading it. It must be hard for him. Soon he'll be tired of the book and would leave her alone.

Ryoma lifted his face and their eyes met. Sakuno was hypnotised in his eyes. His eyes were so big, and it had a really weird shape, like a cat. And it looked tired, exhausted, and really...

Wait, why am I staring at Ryoma-kun's eyes? Sakuno thought as she averted her eyes, blushing.

Ryoma was pulling his cap down too. "Hey, erm, do you want to come watch my match this following Wednesday?"

"I don't know if I have the time..."

"Oh. It's at 9am. If you can't make it, it's alright." Ryoma shrugged and continued reading. "It's just, I missed your support and silent cheering." He added softly.

Sakuno's heart skipped a beat. He missed her? If he missed her why didn't he call these three years?

"You don't need my support. You can always bring your girlfriend with you." Sakuno said bitterly.

"I don't have a girlfriend. Not allowed." Ryoma answered simply.

Sakuno's anger flared up. "Liar!"

Ryoma looked at her, shocked. "What...?"

"Who's that girl that you kissed in the locker room right after your match? Huh? How about all those pretty fangirls always by your side, helping you to wipe your sweat? Tell me that you don't have any relationship with them, look me in the eye and tell me!" Sakuno shouted, and she could feel her tears welling up.

There was a moment of silence, while Ryoma sat, mouth agaped, stunned at the new-personality Sakuno. She flushed a bit, and stared at the floor, panting a bit from her increased speed of her heartbeats. Goodness, she couldn't believe what she had done... She had shouted at Ryoma... But she had finally let off her feelings inside her, she kind of feel relived now...

Then Ryoma stood up and grabbed Sakuno's shoulders, staring straight into her eyes. "I do not have any relationship with anybody at all. I told you, I wasn't allowed. And the girl I kissed, she's my manager and she is suffering from an unexplainable psychotic disorder that make her in need of such sexual feelings. She dated with every one of the regulars in our team. I do not like her. Do I even look like the type who likes older women?"

He pulled Sakuno closer. "There is only one girl that I loved, and that is you. So all I want is for the girl I loved to be present in the semi-finals, is that too hard?"

Sakuno shook Ryoma away. "The girl you loved? Who are you talking about? Me? Oh no, it can't be me, because you didn't even bothered to call me in these three years." You ignored me, you didn't appreciate my love for you, and you didn't care. At least Kevin cared, he understood Sakuno and tried to know more. Sakuno doubt Ryoma knew anything about her.

"I wasn't allowed to, Sakuno. I wasn't allowed to have any communication with anyone other than my family and some other random authorised person."

"Yeah, but we are communicating now."

"Well, I'm breaking the rules. I'm supposed to be practising."

Sakuno stared at Ryoma, who somehow found Sakuno's shoe fascinating. There was silence again until Ryoma broke it.

"So, will you come watch my match? I'll get you VIP seat."

Sakuno hesitated. She wanted to refuse, wanted to ignore Ryoma like how he ignored her. She wanted to make Ryoma feel devastated, feel brokenhearted, like how she had felt before. However, she could not hide the fact that she was still in love with him. She somehow knew it a long time ago, that she still loved Ryoma, but she had always tried her best to ignore the feeling and tried to love Kevin. But yesterday's event somehow confirmed it. A month with Kevin had been a distraction, but in truth, she had always loved Ryoma, and she always wanted to cheer for him like how she did three years ago.

She did miss those times, when Ryoma was always out playing some matches, and she had always squeezed in some time to watch it, to support Ryoma, no matter how busy she was. Ever since Ryoma was gone, she had always found her days empty and boring, as most of her time outside school were spent in the tennis court.

"Well, I'll go, only if you answered my questions." Sakuno said finally. After all, there was no important classes on Wednesday, she could skip it no problem.

"What questions?"

"Questions about me."

"If I answered it would you also agree to going out with me for a date the following weekend of my match?" Ryoma smiled greedily.

Sakuno frowned. Why was he so confident in answering? It's true that Ryoma had always been confident in everything he did, but Sakuno was going to prove for once that Ryoma could not win everything he did.

"Okay, sure." She said. "What's my favourite colour?"

Ryoma frowned. "Pink?"

What? Nobody knew that she liked pink, since she hardly showed it at school or anything. "How do you know?"

"I guessed it...since...it was pretty obvious..."

It was obvious? But she never showed it! Or did I...? Anyway, he was lucky this time...just lucky.

"Okay, then what's my favourite ice-cream flavour?" He won't get this right, until now, she had only told Kevin about this...

"Strawberry."

Sakuno blinked. What? He got it again? "How do you know?"

"Since you liked pink, so..." Ryoma shrugged.

He guessed it again! That's impossible. Wait, he can't possiby guessed this next...

"What's my favourite band?"

"Erm..." Ryoma blinked. Ha, he could never get this right...

"Linkin park."

"What? How do you know?" He must have read my mind! Sakuno thought.

"Oh wow, you like them too? I love them! And nope I did not read your mind."

Sakuno froze.

Ryoma laughed. "You're giving me that is-he-reading-my-mind look again."

Sakuno bit her lips, trying to stop herself from blushing. This time, she'll make Ryoma speechless!

"Why did I decide to major in math?" Ryoma could never answer this correctly. Sakuno smiled confidently. Most people would say that she must be following her grandmother's footsteps, but the truth was...

"Erm, because maths is something that could accurately state how clever you are. If you are stupid and cannot get it, you can never get it. So you wanted to show people how clever you are."

Sakuno stared at Ryoma, her smile disappearing. How did he know? She remembered vivdly when she was young, she had always been bullied at school, and called 'stupid' by those irritating boys. She remembered a boy in her neighbourhood had saw her when she had cried after being teased again, and had comforted her. He had told Sakuno that all she had to do was to score well in maths to prove those boys wrong. He had said maths was something that only could be good at when a person was clever, and it's actually something that could test someone's IQ. After that, she had always wanted to study maths as a childish thought to prove those people that bullied her that she was not stupid.

"I got it right, didn't I?" Ryoma smiled. "Honestly, majoring in math? It's such a pathetic subject, I cannot think of any other reason than this." Before Sakuno could rebut with an extremely red face, he added happily. "So it's deal, then, you're watching my match, and you're going out with me."

He took his stuff. "Okay, I see there's a tennis court outside your dormitory. I'll go practice in there. They won't mind giving up their spaces, right?"

He turned to leave. "By the way, nice book you have there." He added as he slammed the door out.

"You don't have to slam the door you know..." Sakuno grumbled silently. Ryoma had always been over-confident, and arrogant at times, but it seemed that he could always back up his confidence with actual skill and knowledge. Sakuno sat back on her chair and started reading her notes again. Guess Ryoma really did knew something about her. A person couldn't possibly have guessed so much about her.

But, going out with Ryoma... Sakuno frowned. She was supposed to be Kevin's girlfriend, it's not right to go out with Ryoma. She shouldn't have agreed, and she should have set more questions.

She slumped on her chair. She was just too shocked at Ryoma being able to guess that last question, and could not react after that. She hoped Kevin would not mind, it's just one day. Kevin was a really easygoing guy.

XxX

Kevin slumped on his bed and cursed.

He should have known. He should have known that Ryoma would be in the court practising. That practising maniac, what makes him think that the court would be totally empty during friday night?

Now because of his carelessness, Ryoma finally knew about his secret date with Sakuno. He massaged his mouth. Ryoma's punch was hard. The torturous training of the regulars were extremely useful.

What should he do? He loved Sakuno so much. Now, Ryoma was definitely going to get Sakuno back. He had competition.

It's alright, Kevin doubted that Sakuno would still like Ryoma. After that one month with her, and the unlucky scene of Jennifer kissing Ryoma, Kevin was sure that Ryoma could not win Sakuno over that easily. Kevin still had a chance. He was going to be that one that win Sakuno's heart. He had to.

Okay, he had to do something in order to win Ryoma. Ryoma always won him over everything, now it's his turn to win. Ryoma did not deserve to win. He made Sakuno cry, and made her broke her heart. He had to win.

He took out his phone excitedly.

"Hi, Sakuno."

"Oh hi Kevin!"

"What are you doing now?"

"Oh, I'm doing a bit of research on my essay."

"Essay? What do you write about on math?"

"I'm researching into the fourth dimension and more."

"Oh wow. Fourth dimension huh."

"Yup, it's really interesting. Erm, anyway, why do you call?"

"Nah, it's just, I'm feeling a bit bored. Do you want to go somewhere fun next weekend? Anywhere will be fine."

"Oh...well, I have something next weekend."

"Oh, really, well, erm, okay. What do you have?"

"Oh, well, Ryoma invited me to go out."

"What?" Kevin practically shouted at the phone. Ryoma asked her to go out? Before him? Since when Ryoma had such efficiency? "Go out? Where?"

"I'm not sure..."

"Why did you want to go out with him anyway?" Kevin asked. The last time he saw her, he was sure Sakuno hated Ryoma.

"He...well, he invited me to watch his match on Wednesday, and I didn't want to. So I...sort of challenged him to something. Erm...a bet... Apparently he's very good at it that it won him a weekend with him too."

"What did you challenge him to?" The only thing Kevin knew Ryoma would win totally was a tennis match.

"Erm, questions about me..."

"He answered them all?" Kevin asked dubiously. Ryoma did not know anything about Sakuno other than the fact that he loved her and found her beautiful. He did not admit it, but Kevin knew that Ryoma did not understand Sakuno well; he hardly said any details about Sakuno.

"He's very good at guessing I guess..."

Silence.

"Sorry. We can go out some other time."

"Nah, it's okay. I'll go whenever you have time. I'm always available."

"Alright, then. Well, I guess that's all?"

"Guess so."

"Well, bye, then."

"Yeah."

"..."

"Wait..."

"Yes, Kevin?"

"Oh, well, nothing really. Bye."

"Bye."

Kevin stared at his phone. He had to win, and now he was losing. He threw his phone to his bed. Damn you Ryoma.

XxXxX

_End of chapter._

_How was it? :D_

_I wrote it in a rush, so pls review to help me improve it! _

_Btw the stuff about Sakuno isn't true though. I'm not sure Sakuno liked pink, I doubt Sakuno liked strawberry and Linkin Park. They are just random. If you have any strong objections you can always request to change it. But, I don't think it will have any problems. _

_Hoped you enjoyed! Review!_


	6. Chapter 6

_Sorry I uploaded so slowly! I have good reasons. I have a concert coming and I have rehearsals till ten everyday! So yeah, forgive me._

_Read, enjoy and review! :D_

_XxXxX_

Ryoma's fila cap. Ryoma's hairstyle and hair colour. Banner with large and decorated 'Go Ryoma' and 'We love you Ryoma' written on it. Shirt with the words 'Ryoma Echizen' and cartoonised Ryoma printed on it. There was a pin on the collar of the shirt with proud words 'fan of Echizen Ryoma'. Tennis rackets of Ryoma's favourite brand. Sport shoes Ryoma wore. Merchandise of chibi-size Ryoma hanging around pockets and phones. Life-sized posters of Ryoma.

Sakuno stared around uncomfortably. The people seating in the VIP seat were glaring at her.

These people must be Ryoma's hardcore fans. From top to bottom, every bit of them either looked like Ryoma, or were filled with Ryoma's pictures and 'I love Ryoma' words.

And Sakuno did not even have a single merchandise on her that proved her love for Ryoma.

She coughed uneasily. She had to get something somehow or she'll get killed.

"Hey, erm, where do you get those pins? It looked really nice." She asked, rather awkwardly, the person next to her who were not glaring at her so bitterly.

The person pointed at a shop nearby. Sakuno thanked her and went towards the shop.

That simple pin with a low-quality, pixalated picture of Ryoma costed $20. Sakuno stared at the price, mouth agape.

"Is there, anything cheaper?" Sakuno asked.

"This is $12." The shopkeeper threw a clip with small words of 'Echizen Ryoma' on it.

Sakuno sighed. "I'll take it." She bought it and pinned up her hair. Her eyes trailed to a can of drink.

"I'll take that too." She pointed at the Ponta.

She sat down, and tried hard to ignore the eyes of the hardcore fans.

"Ryoma!" "I love you!" "Do well, Ryoma!" "You rock, Ryoma!" The fans jumped up and started screaming and shouting when Ryoma arrived.

Ryoma walked towards the bench right in front of the VIP seats as his fans desperately tried to reach for him, hanging over the railing, piling over everyone, screaming like a maniac, blowing Ryoma kisses. Sakuno stood up too in order not to look so different, feeling disgusted at the barbaric actions of the previously elegant people.

Ryoma turned his head, which made his fans to go louder and crazier, thinking that Ryoma was looking at them. He looked around the audience frantically, searching for someone. Then, his eyes met Sakuno. The eye contact lasted for quite some time before Ryoma smiled and walked towards them.

"Oh my god Ryoma is coming here!" "My hair! Is my hair alright?" "Ryoma I love you!" The fans went insane as they increased their volume. How loud could they even get? Sakuno felt the gaze of Ryoma and blushed too, as Ryoma walked slowly towards her with a slight smile on his face. Her face flushed a deeper red when Ryoma stood directly in front of her, grabbing the Ponta on her hands.

"Can I have this?" He asked, tickling Sakuno with his breath.

Sakuno nodded. "It...It's for you specially."

"Thanks." He took the Ponta, opened it and poured it into his mouth, letting some excess water trickle down his face. "He's so hot..." "I'm going to melt..." "My heart..." "I wish he could just stand in front of me and drink this for the rest of my life." He smiled at the rest of the fans before turning to his bench.

The girl next to Sakuno fainted on her, giving Sakuno a shock.

Sakuno laid the girl gently on her seat, and sat down too.

Ryoma was really popular. The fans in the first match she saw in America was hardly comparable to this group of people. Ryoma was like a star, and every movement he do, it seemed like it was all rehearsed, all too great, too excellent, too perfect. Sakuno sighed. Ryoma was way too popular. She was starting to dread whatever date she was going to have with Ryoma.

"One set match, Echizen Ryoma to serve!"

Ryoma stood on the service line. He threw the ball up and hit it. The posture, and expressionless face, the way he grabbed the racket with his left hand, everything was so familiar. Sakuno smiled as she watched Ryoma played.

"1-0!"

"2-0!"

"2-1!"

"3-1!"

"3-2!"

"3-3!"

"4-3!"

"4-4!"

"4-5!"

"5-5!"

"6-5!"

"6-6! Tiebreak!"

12 matched in a row, and more to come. Sakuno clutched on her skirt. Three years separating herself from the tennis world, this was the fiercest match she had ever seen. The opponent was strong, and Ryoma... Ryoma was playing so desperately. The adrenaline, the abnormal fast heartbeat, the unconscious prayer that she would mutter under her breath every time Ryoma seemed to be losing, those feelings that she had whenever she watched Ryoma played tennis aroused again, first time in these three years.

Ryoma slumped onto his bench, and poured water on himself. His hands trailed to his face as he massaged his templed with his eyes squeezed shut.

"Ryoma-kun..." Sakuno bit her lips. She raised her voice and shouted. "Ryoma-kun, gambatte!"

The spectators were all shouting and screaming, drowning out Sakuno's voice. Did Ryoma hear it? But Ryoma had smiled slightly right after she cheered, so he must have heard it, right? Please tell me he heard it.

Ryoma stood up tiredly, walking to the service line slowly, with water dripping down, marking the trail of his route.

...

"Game, Echizen Ryoma! 7-6!"

The umpire announced as everyone jumped up and cheered. Sakuno was overjoyed, and joined in the cheers.

Ryoma walked indifferently towards the bench.

"Great job, Ryoma!" The bench coach neared him, but Ryoma cut him off.

Sakuno's smile faded as she saw Ryoma collasped onto his coach, fainting.

"Ryoma-kun!"

XxXxX

Jennifer sat outside the room, legs crossed in 15 degrees, hands put nicely on the right thigh, back stiffened to a certain height that would allow the chest to seem bigger. This was the posture that she had learnt from her mother.

Her hair was tied up in a ponytail, with a few locks hanging behind her ears. She was taught to put on make-up wherever she went, and to replace glasses with contact lenses at all times when outside. The cloths she wore were tight, so that it would show off her curve. The collar was extremely low, and the skirt was extremely short.

Jennifer smiled in a seductive way at a certain male passerby walking by.

Always smile in this manner whenever someone passes, different kind of smile for different kind of people you meet.

The passerby stared at her, and decided to leave instantly.

She sighed. Nowadays males are just so timid. Take the boy in the room being checked by a private doctor for example. He was so resistant towards her, and would not do anything no matter how much body flesh she showed him. Saying something about having a girlfriend in Japan already. What a coward.

And that certain coward had to be a exceptionally charming Asian boy with irresistably cute character and a wonderful lips to play with. It's such a waste.

Jennifer turned her head. The brown hair girl was still here, standing patiently, waiting for Ryoma.

She brought her here because she was sitting on the number one seat on the VIP seat, which were usually reserved for people that were invited. So she figured that she had to bring this girl along too, since it was possible that Ryoma had invited her over.

The girl had been staring at her for quite some time, in an expression she herself could not decipher. Was it jealousy over her beauty? Or was it gratitude that she brought her here, to this private clinic of the team's.

"What's your name, darling?" She asked finally.

The girl jerked her head up in shock. She seemed to be thinking about something real hard, and now she's pulled back to the reality.

"I...I'm Sakuno. Ryuzaki Sakuno." She stammered.

"You shouldn't stammer, darling, it will look bad." Jennifer adviced. "Anyway what relationship do you have with Ryoma? He hardly invites anybody over to watch him."

Sakuno blushed. "I...I was his classmate three years ago before he came to America..."

"I told you not to stammer, did I?" Jennifer said. "So, are you his girlfriend?"

Sakuno's face turned into a deeper shade of red. "N...no! We're...we're just classmates..."

Jennifer shook her head. This girl stammers too much!

The doctor came out of the room. Jennifer stood up slowly, careful not to ruin her beautiful posture.

"Doctor is he alright?" The girl rushed towards the doctor in such an unsophisticated manner. "What happened to him? Is he okay? He's not dying is he? He just fainted like that just after his match! He looked okay before the match though, what's wrong with him?"

Jennifer put her hand on Sakuno's shoulder in the most glamorous way possible, shutting her up. "Don't talk so much, Sakuno, let the doctor talk first."

The doctor, oh my, he's really handsome, and really muscular.

"He's okay, don't worry. He has fainted due to over-exhuastion. Is his opponent a really good one?"

Jennifer nodded. "This is the semifinals."

"No wonder. Well, give him some rest, and if you find it necessary, I can issue a medical certificate requesting for postponement of matches."

Jennifer curled her mouth in a shape years of experience told her most males will fall for it. "Thank you. You are one really thoughtful doctor. Wish every doctor is like you." She said as she neared him, putting her hand on the doctor's chest.

"So, can I go in and see him now?" Sakuno asked impaiently, popping in between them.

Damn that girl, cutting into my fun moments. "Go in, go in, don't come out until I tell you to." Jennifer said, shooing Sakuno away.

She pulled on the shirt of the doctor playfully. "I want to know more about you. I'm Jennifer."

The doctor wrapped his arms around her waist. This is one good man that really know how to play. "I'm Shane."

XxXxX

"Ryoma-kun!" Some really high pitched voice exclaimed.

Ryoma jerked his head up. Oh it's Sakuno. For a moment Ryoma feared that it was his manager.

"Ryuzaki, why are you here?" He asked.

"Your manager brought me here." She said, sitting herself on the chair next to Ryoma. "Are you okay? You fainted after your match, I was so worried."

Ryoma nodded slightly, trying not to move his head too much. "I'm alright." He smiled. "But I won, didn't I, that's what matter."

Sakuno nodded, and stared at her hands. They remained in silence, like they always do. Ryoma sighed. Time to speak up if he wants this relationship to work.

"So, erm..." Ryoma said, breaking the silence. What should he say? "Was the match...entertaining?"

Sakuno nodded. "Yeah, very entertaining."

Silence.

"Are you still playing tennis in school?" Ryoma spoke up again.

"...No. Not at school. B...but I do try to play at every free time I have."

"Why?"

"What?" Sakuno looked up.

Ryoma repeated his question. "Why are you not playing in school anymore? You quit the club?"

Sakuno averted her eyes uncomfortably. "Yeah, I...I was focusing on studying...so..."

"But you have a great potential in tennis, you know that?"

"I...I do?" Sakuno looked up again with disbelief. She had always been so clumsy and all, she had thought that tennis was not a thing for her, and yet Ryoma...

"How could you throw the talent away just for studying...math?" Ryoma said incredulously, annoyed.

"I..." Sakuno blushed. "I wanted to...study in America."

"What for?"

"I...wanted to...see you..." Sakuno said, going softer and softer every word.

So it's true! Sakuno came to America to see him! Ryoma smiled, kind of relived.

"Mada mada dane."

Sakuno jerked her head up. It has been a long time since he said his signature phrase, after Jennifer had warned him about angering the other tennis pros.

"You should have waited for me. I would have come to Japan to find you after my contract."

Sakuno averted her head, staring at her hands, as she said, embarrassed. "I...couldn't wait anymore..."

Ryoma gazed at Sakuno as she slowly turned red.

"You needn't wait anymore. We're officially going out coming weekend." Ryoma said decisively.

"Officially?" Sakuno said, shocked. "B...but...it's not official, I mean...it's not even my decision."

"Too bad, dump Kevin that loser if you need to, we are downright official now."

"What? I..." Sakuno was lost for words. How could Ryoma just say this in such a demanding manner? Who is he to order he? She sulked for the next ten minutes, with Ryoma smirking at her.

"You okay?"

"Hn?"

"Your head, it looks stiff."

"A bit of headache, that's all."

"You sure? The doctor said it's due to over-exhaustion. Are you...is the training very hard?"

Ryoma smiled assuringly. "It's not." It is. Very very very very very hard.

"Hello." Jennifer popped her head into the room. "Hey, Doctor says Ryoma needs rest, Sakuno please leave now, thank you." She left immediately. That girl had her button loose.

"I'll leave now." Sakuno stood up. "Bye."

"I'll pick you up at your dorm."

"Oh, okay, bye."

She turned and left.

Now what is he going to do this weekend?

XxXxX

_Review!_


	7. Chapter 7

_I'm sorry if this is a really slow update. Please enjoy. :D This is the most fun chapter to write. Hope you find it fun too._

_XxXxX_

The sun was shining brightly, so bright that it was hurting Sakuno's eyes when she woke up.

Sakuno rubbed her eyes, and pushed her banket away from her, struggling to get up. Then she kicked something soft at the side of her bed.

Is it her pillow? But her pillow was still nicely put behind her head.

She blinked her eyes to focus and crawled up to the soft thing she kicked. There seemed to be something round at her bed, covered by the blanket she threw over. Carefully, she grabbed the thing. It was like a ball, but a little bit out of shape. She pulled the 'ball'.

"Ow, ow, ow!" The 'ball' shouted.

A ball? Talking? Sakuno stared in shock as she let go of the 'ball'.

The 'ball' wriggled in the blanket, levitating higher and higher as it go closer to Sakuno.

"What is this thing?" Sakuno was freaked out, and she moved as far away from the 'ball' as possible.

"You don't have to pull my head like this, Kevin. Who told you to do that? Is it Jennifer..." The 'ball' travelled in front of Sakuno as it slowly revealed itself.

"Ryoma-kun?" Sakuno exclaimed, as the boy stared back in equally surprised expression.

What was happening? Why was Ryoma in her room? And on her bed? Sakuno blushed as she noticed the position they were in now; she was lying on the bed with Ryoma crawling on all fours on top of her.

Ryoma blinked, and frown as if in deep thinking. Then his eyes lit up in sudden enlightenment. "Oh, hi, Ryuzaki. I came here to pick you up, but you were sleeping, so I waited for you. It seemed that I had fallen asleep on your bed. Sorry about that."

Sakuno nodded, not daring to look at Ryoma.

Ryoma sighed. He looked around. "I'll wait for you outside." He said as he crawled out of the bed. "Gosh, your bed is so uncomfortable."

"Could you help me close the door please?" Sakuno shouted behind Ryoma.

Ryoma slammed the door in answer.

Sakuno jumped out of bed. She took the clothes she had spent a few hours choosing and stood in front of the mirror. A few of her buttons were loose on her night gown. She flushed red as she remembered how Ryoma was staring down at her. She grabbed her clothes tightly and shook her head.

She slipped off her clothes and started putting on the only few really nice clothes she had.

"Ryuzaki, can I eat the cookies on your table?" Came the muffled voice of Ryoma.

"Help yourself." Sakuno shouted back as she increased her speed. She would not admit it, but she was waiting for this day very excitedly. She had made this weekend free of any plans, and had instead stuffed everything into the week before and after. She had always wanted to have a date with Ryoma, and the 'dates' she had with Ryoma in Japan was disappointing, no matter how much the seniors were supporting.

Sakuno combed her hair. She had always wanted a date with Ryoma, but she could not afford to get herself hurt again. If Ryoma disappoint her again, she'll never go on another one with Ryoma. After all, Kevin was still very nice to her. Yesterday night he called, and even helped in the selection of clothes.

She opened the door. The cookies on her table was completely eaten.

"Ryoma-kun?" She called out.

"Here." Ryoma appeared from her back. "You're wearing this?"

Sakuno looked down on her. It was a normal plain pink shirt, and a black frilly mini skirt fitted below. "What's wrong?"

"That's all? A plain shirt and a plain skirt? No make-up?"

Ryoma said it as if it was the worst thing a girl could do. Sakuno tried to fight back her tears. "What's wrong with it? These are the nicest clothes I have." Her tone sounded unintentionally harsh.

Ryoma shrugged. "It looked pretty good on you. It's okay, I'm not wearing anything special too, and it won't attract any unnecessary attention this way. Let's go."

Ryoma opened the door for Sakuno to walk through. Ryoma followed Sakuno, closing the door gently, pulling his cap down.

Ryoma was walking very far away from Sakuno. It reminded Sakuno of the numerous 'dates' she had with Ryoma; Sakuno walking behind, always trying to catch Ryoma. But this time it was Sakuno walking in front. It was the same. Sakuno wringed her hand sadly. Guess she could not have too high an expectation on this date.

"Don't look back Ryuzaki, pretend I'm not here." Ryoma whispered softly at Sakuno's ears when she tried to turn back and wait for Ryoma.

"Huh, why?" Sakuno asked. Her questions were answered by a few girls walking past them.

"Oh my gosh, isn't that Echizen Ryoma?" " Oh my gosh Ryoma is here!" "He's here again!" "Ryoma, I love you!" "Ryoma!" The girls started running towards them with an increasing number.

Ryoma groaned. "Damn those fans." He grabbed Sakuno's hand and ran outside.

A Jaguar car was waiting outside the boarding school. Ryoma opened the door and rushed Sakuno in before jumping into it too.

Sakuno watched as fans crowd around the car, some even banging on the window. This was not the first time Sakuno witnessed the fanatical fans of Ryoma, but she was still shocked. "What's wrong with them?"

"Don't ask me." Ryoma answered, slumping on the car seat. He looked exhausted.

"Are you okay?"

Ryoma nodded, and dug out a long piece of paper from his pocket. "I made this list yesterday. I don't know what are you supposed to do in a date, so help me choose one."

Sakuno took the list. It was written in a very untidy scribble.

Things to do tmr: _A/N I actually wanted to strikethrough, but apparently doesn't allow it...so..._

Have a good sleep

Buy a good pillow

Buy a toy for Karupin (x)

Play a friendly match

Buy another racket

Kick Kevin for breaking my racket (x)

Throw Kevin over the Grand Canyon for disturbing my sleep over this stupid date (x)

Hug and kiss Sakuno in front of Kev (x)

Watch a movie

Watch another movie (x)

Invade the cinema and get a whole theatre to ourselves (x)

Bake a cake (x)

Mess up the kitchens (x)

Party (x)

Kiss Sakuno (x)

Eat

Walk through the entire house

Get drenched in rain

end of list.

Sakuno stared at the 'list'. What sort of list is this? Half of the options were cancelled, and those remaining were weird ones. She blushed. This list of Ryoma seemed to be a confession of love in disguise. She turned and saw Ryoma sleeping. She smiled. It's okay, he was just fulfilling the first criteria. He must be really tired.

Perhaps Ryoma sensed Sakuno staring at him, so he woke up. "So, what should we do first?"

"I don't know. Watch a movie first?" Sakuno answered, picking the easiest and least weird of option of the list.

"Okay."

XxXxX

_A/N: Let X be the person that Ryoma defeated not too long ago in the semifinals and him be a very good tennis player that have the potential to be top. And let Tan, Sin, Cos, Log and In be his followers. I don't feel like putting on a real guy's name, so..._

"Damn that kid." X threw the racket on the floor, and watched it smash into pieces. He stepped on the pieces angrily.

"Isn't...that your best tennis racket?" Tan asked meekly.

"Shut up!" X kicked the broken racket at Tan, causing him to cower in fear.

"This racket..." X hissed, walking up to Tan to crush the racket some more. "...It was this racket that made me lose to that kid! It has a curse! There was no way, me, the almighty X, can lose to a pathetic underage kid! He must have put a curse in this racket!"

"Nineteen-year-old is not really considered underage..." Tan muttered, and got a whack on his head.

"That kid...what's his name again?"

"Echizen Ryoma." Cos answered.

"Right, Echizen Ryoma. A stinking Japanese boy. No Japanese had ever made it to this far in a grand slam. There must be a curse somewhere..."

"Maybe he really is good..." Tan muttered, and got another whack on his head.

"How can that cocky brat be this good? Remember when we meet him in the changing room? Do you remember what he said to me? What did he say?"

"_'Work on your backhand, it's really horrible. Mada mada dane.'_" Sin answered.

"Right. As if his backhand was good. And what does the last sentence even mean? It's apparent that he's an idiot. There is no way I can lose to such an idiot, cocky brat! It's humiliating! Utterly embarrassing! This mark the end of my career! I want a rematch with him!" He declared, and stared at the rest of his gang.

The group of X followers stared at each other hopelessly.

"Well, you can always go find him." Tan suggested, trying to be helpful.

"No I can't. He is always with his team, and even lives with them for goodness sake. I want a private talk with him." X shouted, clenching his fists.

"It's the weekends. During weekends, the team will be allowed home." Log said.

"But he has his stupid bodyguards everywhere!"

"I hear he always go to private and quiet tennis courts to practice every midnight during weekends. Nobody knew where though, or else it won't be private." In said.

X glared at his gang. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go find out! I'm going to meet this brat tonight!"

XxXxX

"Don't look at me." Ryoma ordered. His back was turned towards Sakuno, as Sakuno stared at him, amused, carrying Karupin who was purring, equally amused.

They had just watched a movie together. Sakuno cried first, then followed by Ryoma, who was, very obviously, trying hard to control his tears. The whole floor now was covered in tissue papers, and Ryoma was blaming it on Sakuno, saying that her tears were 'contagious'.

"I'm not crying anymore, Ryoma-kun, so you can turn around now." She said, poking Ryoma's back with Karupin.

Ryoma sat stiffly and stubbornly. "I'm not letting you see my face."

Sakuno chuckled. Ryoma was trying to hide his crying face from Sakuno, trying to hide his weakness. "Come on, turn around."

"No, it's embarrassing."

Sakuno laughed again.

"Don't laugh."

Sakuno could not help but smile.

"I know you are still laughing. But it's not funny!"

"Okay, okay I know..." Sakuno said, trying to suppress her laughter. "Need more tissue?"

"No! I'm not crying! I have never cried at all in my whole life. This.. I must have too much water in my body."

Sakuno caressed Karupin, as it purred comfortably in her arms. She was starting to love this cat more and more. She never knew Ryoma was the type that kept such cute animals and care for them so tenderly. When they stepped onto this house, the first thing Ryoma did was to call out for his cat, scoop the cat up and feed it while smoothing the fur. Ryoma even kissed the cat, but stopped when he realised Sakuno was in the room too.

Sakuno smiled. Ryoma was a really nice person, why did he have to hide it?

"It's not bad to cry, you know. It lets your feelings out. And it proves that you have emotions too." Sakuno said, trying to cheer Ryoma up.

"Emotion is not good. It makes you weak, and it hinders your path to improve."

"No, it's not."

"Yes it is."

"No. If you don't have emotion, how do you love me?"

Silence.

Sakuno blushed as she realised what she had just said.

Ryoma turned around slowly. "There, happy? It's getting late. Let's grab some lunch."

He took Sakuno by the hand and pulled her up.

"Karupin, time for lunch." Ryoma took Karupin from Sakuno's arms. Karupin struggled and cling on to Sakuno, growling at Ryoma. Ryoma stared at his cat, and shrugged. "I think he likes you. You feed him then."

Sakuno stared down at Karupin. Karupin stared back with his big eyes, and his lips curled up, purring, rubbing his head on Sakuno's chest. Karupin is the cutest cat she had ever met. "He reminds me of someone."

"Who?"

Sakuno looked up at Ryoma. Ryoma was staring back with his big eyes. "You." She said softly.

Ryoma looked down at Karupin. "How I wish I'm Karupin now." He walked to the dining room with Sakuno blushing slightly.

XxXxX

"Found someone with information."

"Who?"

"Ryoma's teammate."

"Ryoma's teammate? You fool, how can his teammate help?"

"He hates Ryoma. So he is willing to help."

"So who is he?"

"Daryl."

"Heard of him. How do you know he hates Ryoma?"

"He said Ryoma stole his girlfriend, and his fame. Whatever. But whether he is to be trusted is up to you."

"Hmm..."

XxXxX

"It's so...empty..." Sakuno commented, looking around her. They were at Ikea. Ryoma had declared after the fanciful lunch in the house that he would never have another good night's sleep if he did not buy a good, comfortable pillow, so they travelled to Ikea.

"I booked this whole place for two hours." Ryoma answered.

"What? Why?"

"I don't want any fans to be bothering me now."

True, Ryoma's fans were scary.

"But we are only buying a pillow." Sakuno said, trying to catch Ryoma. Ryoma was walking as fast as Sakuno, but he always seemed to end up so in front of Sakuno that Sakuno had to run up every 5 minutes.

"If there are people bothering me, I will tend to speed up, and speeding up will decrease the quality of the pillow which I am expecting, resulting in my continuation of my uncomfortable sleep."

"Okay..." Sakuno said. But still, it's only a pillow. You can still sleep even without a pillow. Ryoma was so spoilt.

"There, the bedroom section." Ryoma said. They walked up to a bed.

"So, how do you go about choosing pillows?"

Ryoma grabbed Sakuno by the shoulder and flung her onto the bed. "What..?"

Ryoma stood above Sakuno and stared down at her. "You try them one by one." Ryoma smiled, tossing Sakuno a pillow.

Sakuno blushed, and placed the pillow behind her. "But I'm not the one buying the pillow, so why am I the one trying?"

"You're not the one trying. I am."

"Then why am I..." Sakuno stopped in the middle of her sentence. Her blush deepened when Ryoma climbed onto the bed next to her.

"You're just helping me to soften and heat up the pillow." Ryoma placed his head right next to Sakuno.

"So? Is this pillow good?" Sakuno asked after what seemed like eternity. She could feel Ryoma's eyes boring into her.

"Not bad..." Ryoma said, letting his breath tickling her, as her face turned into a deeper red.

Ryoma wrapped his arms around Sakuno's neck.

"What..." Sakuno said, surprised, as she tried to get up.

"Don't move. Just relax. I'll be doing this every time we change a pillow. So you just sleep."

How could she sleep with so much blood pumped into her head? Sakuno thought as Ryoma's hands slipped gently in between her hair, lifting her up slowly. Then her head was landed on a softer pillow. Ryoma breathed out a relieved sigh. Sakuno blushed even more as Ryoma's breath warmed her up.

The process repeat itself for about ten times before Ryoma found a truly suitable pillow.

"Okay." Ryoma said lazily as he lied on the bed, on his newly-found pillow. "I found it, the perfect pillow. Now get up."

Sakuno climbed up hurriedly. It had been so awkward, and she just want to leave this place. Suddenly she felt a hand pulling her from the waist as she fall back once again.

She fell onto Ryoma body.

"Wha- Ryoma-kun! Let go of me!" She squealed as Ryoma hugged her to him tightly.

"Mm..." Ryoma rubbed his head on Sakuno's neck. "This is a nice bolster. May I know how much it cost?"

"I'm not a bolster, Ryoma-kun!" Sakuno fought, pulling herself away from Ryoma.

Ryoma was laughing as Sakuno panted and blushed. "It's not funny!"

"Sorry." Ryoma chuckled, grabbing the pillow he had chosen. "It's just a small joke."

Sakuno watched as Ryoma gave the pillow to the counter. She could sense Ryoma pushing this relationship. It was going too fast. It's not good. Furthermore, Sakuno's real official boyfriend is Kevin...

"Ryuzaki!" Ryoma called. "Let's go! It's almost two hours already, the crowd is coming!"

"Coming!"

Even so, it's a really fun date so far.

XxXxX

"You sure Ryoma coming here today?" X asked.

"100% sure." Daryl said. "Tonight. He'll be bringing his girlfriend along too."

"Girlfriend? I thought it wasn't allowed."

"Of course it wasn't. But Jennifer allowed him." Daryl scowled. "That Jennifer...What's so good about Ryoma anyway? Nowaday he always get his way..."

"Maybe we can have some fun with his girlfriend."

"Maybe. But Ryoma is still the main target. Make sure I get part of the fun too."

"No prob. If Ryoma ever appears."

"He will, don't worry."

XxXxX

_End._

_Is the ending a bit too rushed? I'm so sorry about that, I was rushing through it..._

_Anyway, hope you enjoyed._

_I want reviews!_


	8. Chapter 8

_Hi sorry for this late update. Was in malacca in a whole four days. :D Well, just for information, I will not be updating very frequently, so just an advice to put me in your story alert, so that you don't need to keep checking. :D_

_XxXxX_

"Here we are." Ryoma led Sakuno into the tennis court. "Our last activity for the day."

They had finished all the activities in the list that Ryoma did not cross out, and this was the last one: playing a friendly match. Sakuno had a really good time in this somewhat meaningless date. Ryoma had been really nice, and the impression of Ryoma Sakuno always had was changed. Ryoma was not as proud as people think. The only subject he could be proud of was tennis, and as for others he had quite a low self-esteem in doing it. Ryoma was caring at times when it was needed, however if everything was normal, he was as cold as an ice.

They did not really talk much, (Ryoma was apparently not the type that enjoys talking), but Ryoma was obviously making a huge effort in getting her to talk.

"The amount of food they give you in America in bigger than what you get in Japan, so if you cannot finish this you can always give me and let me help you finish." Ryoma had said in the dinner after a long silence with an amplified noise of the cutlery.

Sakuno had nodded. They had been eating dinner and lunch in Ryoma's house. Ryoma's house was extremely big, and he had very good cooks too. Couple of minutes later, Ryoma had cleared his plate clean, and was watching Sakuno eat.

"You're fast." Sakuno had commented.

"I'm hungry. But you eat slowly. You'll get fat if you eat as fast as me." Ryoma had answered impassively.

Several minutes later, Sakuno cleared three quarters of her plate.

"Are you full? You seem to be slowing down." Ryoma had said.

Sakuno had stared at her plate sadly, finally letting Ryoma wolf down the rest of the plate.

"Don't you need to study?" She remembered Ryoma had asked her one time after a long silence, as usual. Ryoma always seemed to be asking weird stuff after a long pause.

"I think so, but I had ample time to study in the weekdays. Weekends are days that people are supposed to relax."

Ryoma had nodded, and added sadly. "I never relaxed in weekends before."

"Really?"

"This is the first time I had some free time at all."

"Oh..." Sakuno had had no idea what to say. Ryoma's life seemed really different from her.

"What do you normally do?" Sakuno had asked meekly.

"Train, practice, eat, do basic exercises, perfecting moves, gym..." Ryoma had said rather dully. "Enduring the coach's shout and punishments... breaking rackets over and over again... training the eyes to stare at fast moving objects..."

"It's... Isn't it kind of boring?"

"...I don't know, that never crossed my mind."

Maybe Ryoma loved tennis so much. Anyway, here they were, in a tennis court. Sakuno smiled. She was going to show Ryoma how much she had improved. She was going to make Ryoma exclaim how good she was, like how Kevin did.

"It's a friendly game." Ryoma said. "So let's not care about who starts. You shall start."

Sakuno nodded. She threw up the ball, and hit it down towards Ryoma.

It was just an instant, but Sakuno saw it. Ryoma, standing on the tennis court, with a racket in hand, all the gentleness, all the relaxation he had before disappeared, as he tensed up and became serious. He was like a totally different person, the one you would see in matches, the cool and popular Ryoma everyone loved.

And Sakuno's mind turned blank when the ball came flying past her in such speed she could not even move. She stared at the marking on the ground, and the slightly dented fence around the tennis court. She understood the fear of those tennis players she saw in Japan playing against Ryoma or the other regular members, and the ball flew past them just like that. It was horrifying not able to react to a pathetic, small ball.

"Are you okay?" She looked up and found the normal Ryoma, the gentle Ryoma he had been, standing in front of her apologetically.

What was the meaning of this? Why did Ryoma had to hit that hard?

"I'm okay..." Sakuno said.

"I'm sorry." Ryoma said after seeing the mark and the dent. "I lost myself then. I'm used to this...I'll...Ill control myself better next time."

Sakuno nodded. Ryoma stared at Sakuno, fidgeting a bit, not knowing what to do. Finally, he placed his hands on Sakuno's head, and, rather awkwardly, gently messed it up a bit. Sakuno blushed slightly. Ryoma had a really weird way in showing his affection.

Ryoma walked back to his court. There was a few men walking into the courts. Didn't Ryoma had said that normally at night this court would be empty? She figured Ryoma would be leaving soon. It had always been pretty obvious that he liked to be left alone.

Sure enough, Ryoma was walking back towards her.

"Are we leaving?" Sakuno asked.

Ryoma grabbed her hands, and gribbed it hard as he led Sakuno out of the court hastily. Ryoma was walking faster than normal, and this was not the usual retreat he would have if there were just normal people.

"What's wrong?" Sakuno asked, catching his pace.

It did not need to be answered as a man cut their path to the exit. "Yo, Ryoma." The rest of the people surrounded them menacingly. There were about...five, six...seven including the one standing at the net.

"Ryoma-kun, who are they?" She asked. She could feel Ryoma's grip on her hand tightened, and there was a tug from Ryoma pulling her closer to him.

The man whistled. "Your girlfriend, Ryoma-kun?" He mimicked. Sakuno recognised this man. He was the one Ryoma defeated in the match last Wednesday!

"What do you want, X?" Ryoma asked.

"What do I want?" He laughed. "Well, nothing in particular, just wanted to vent my anger." He snapped his fingers, and the men around started pulling Ryoma away from Sakuno.

It came as a shock, by the time Ryoma widened his eyes as the realisation dawned on him, and he started to try and grab Sakuno, they were already separated.

"Ryoma-kun!" Sakuno shouted, reaching for Ryoma in vain.

"Be quiet, lady." The sidekick of the man held out a knife, pointing it towards her neck. Sakuno stopped struggling as she stared down at the knife in fear. She could feel the man's free hand touching her waist, sliding slowly to her butt. No one had touched her like that before. But she could not do anything with this knife under her neck. She clenched her fists helplessly.

"Get your fucking hands off her!" Ryoma roared, charging towards the man. The rest of the gang grabbed him and prevented him from saving her.

"Move, and I'll get Tan to kill her." X said, standing in front of Ryoma, towering above him.

Ryoma stopped moving almost immediately. X patted Ryoma in his face with his hand. "Good boy."

"Why are you doing this, X?" Ryoma spat. "Are you such a sore loser?"

X twitched and punched Ryoma in his face.

"Ryoma!" Sakuno shouted, as her heart clenched itself painfully. Ryoma had a distinct red in his cheek, and it seemed to be swollen.

"Oh, you are omitting the 'kun' you usually says? I don't know much, but isn't that rude not to include it in Japan?" Tan asked, seemingly interested in her, as his hands were drawing circles in her butt.

"Stop touching her you pervert!" Ryoma shouted, and lounged forward again. X punched him down, as he fall hard down on the ground.

"Stop touching her, Tan." X added. Sakuno sighed in relief as Tan's hands left her body reluctantly.

"How do you know that I'll be here?" Ryoma asked, glaring at X.

"Let me introduce you to our informer, then." X smiled. "Come on out Daryl!"

XxXxX

"Daryl?" Ryoma exclaimed, shocked. His teammate, Daryl? He had always thought Daryl as a nice and friendly person, being one of the few that talked to him like a real person in the team. What is Daryl doing with them?

"Yo, Ryoma." Daryl smiled, walking closer to him.

"Why are you helping them?" Ryoma asked, perplexed.

"You should know it very well."

Ryoma stared at him. He should know it very well? Well, he did not know anything. He knew he had insulted and angered X, but what had he done to Daryl?

Daryl looked at Sakuno, who was held by that perverted freak. That asshole, Tan was his name, right? Ryoma ground his teeth as he said to himself. If only there were not so many people holding on to him and threatening to kill him, he would have punched that man till his mouth was full of blood and broke his nose so that even plastic surgery could not help him.

"Who is that girl?" Daryl asked.

X laughed, patting Ryoma's head (Fuck him for that). "Little Ryoma's _girlfriend_."

"Oh yeah, what happened to you and Jennifer?" Daryl asked, with bitterness in his voice, glaring at Ryoma.

Ryoma stared back. "What do you mean me and Jennifer?"

"Stop acting like you don't know!" Daryl shouted. "You snatched Jennifer away from me and where is she now?"

Ryoma blinked. It took a while for him to register what his teammate was saying, and he burst into laughter.

"What?" Daryl asked, face red. "Why are you laughing?"

Daryl was Jennifer's ex-boyfriend, before she got sick of him and went on to Ryoma, and he...oh Ryoma could not stop laughing...he really thought that Jennifer loved him and it was Ryoma that snatched her away?

"Listen, Daryl." Ryoma said seriously after his fits of laughter. "Jennifer never treats her relationship with anyone seriously. To her you are just another toy for her to play with. I am a toy too, but I didn't want to play with her. So, for your information, Jennifer had already moved on to a doctor called Shane."

"W...what?" Daryl stared at Ryoma in disbelief, or what Ryoma thought, in denial. "You're lying...you're definitely lying, you took Jennifer away and then you dumped her for this Asian girl!" He looked at Sakuno. "This girl, she's not authorised, is she? Then you're breaking the rules! You're not supposed to have any communication with anyone other than family members and other people who are authorised by the team manager."

"You're blackmailing me?" Ryoma glared at Daryl. It was true, he never told anyone about this date with Sakuno. After all, it was illegal. No one knew except Kevin, who absolutely would not tell, he was dead sure of that. They had been angry with each other for a long time, and had not been speaking at all, until Kevin somehow found out that Ryoma was dating Sakuno, and they went into the rivalry fire like nine years ago. The other team members were surprised at how well Kevin could play when he's angry. But the matches wasn't a problem, the bigger problems were on the other stuff that Kevin do to him in their room, which he wasn't going to elaborate on.

And now Daryl knew it too. He didn't know much about Daryl, so he could not be sure that Daryl would keep this to himself.

"Well, I'll consider about it." Daryl smiled, turning back to his previous form. "Hey, X, do you want to see Ryoma humiliated?"

"Like how?" X said, bored at the two's conversation.

"Like how he asked for this date." Daryl said, casting an evil glance at Ryoma.

Ryoma blanched. That fucking asshole...

XxXxX

Sakuno had not understood a single thing this Daryl said. Ryoma understood, but she didn't. So she spent the whole time observing everyone, trying to figure out a way to get out of this place. The observation that frightened her completely was when Ryoma started to turn pale.

Is he afraid? Sakuno had never saw Ryoma frightened before, so she was not sure, but the expression on Ryoma's face was...traumatic to her memory.

"Hey, Sakuno, right?" Daryl turned towards her and smiled a very friendly smile. "Are you interested in knowing how Ryoma got this day free for the date with you?"

Sakuno stared at Daryl. Indeed, she remembered Ryoma saying that he did not have any free time at all, so why was he free today?

"He begged for it." Daryl said.

He begged for it? Sakuno repeated in her mind. Ryoma? The proud, cocky boy, begging? No, it must be exaggerated. It was not that kind of beg. It was...It must be a bow, maybe a fourty-five degree bow. She stared at Ryoma, but Ryoma was busy observing his shoelaces.

"You know how he begged? At first he bowed a full ninety degree bow..."

Right, see, it was a bow after all. But a ninety degree bow was something she could not imagined Ryoma to do...

"...and then comes the best part, Jennifer agreed, but the coach didn't. And then, where everyone's watching, he knelt in front of the coach, in front of everyone! Hahahahaha!" Daryl laughed.

"Are you serious? Him? Kneeling?" X laughed along too.

Sakuno stared at Ryoma, too awestruck to speak. He knelt in front of everyone? "Ryoma-kun...is it true?" Ryoma, throwing away his pride, so that he could be on a date with her? It's not true, it could not be true, just one pathetic day with her couldn't have worth so much.

Ryoma averted his eyes away from her.

"Is it true? Well, now you'll see a live view of it." Daryl smiled. "Ryoma, show her how you did it, convincing coach to let you a day free. Do it and I might consider not telling people about this illegal date."

Ryoma stared at the ground, unwilling to move.

X impatiently waved at Tan, and Sakuno shrieked when Tan strangled her. "Stop it, stop...!"

"Stop!" Ryoma shouted. Tan let go of Sakuno, and she took a big breath, frightened out of her wits. "I'll do it."

"Right. Let's start off with the bow. And repeat what you say to coach and Jennifer."

The people surrounding Ryoma started moving away, giving him space. Ryoma bowed slowly, and stayed in the ninety degree position. "Please, just one day will do. One day, and I'll promise I won't ever slack off in practices." His voice was bitter, and filled with animosity.

Sakuno stared as tears started filling up her eyes. No, don't do this anymore, Ryoma, don't humiliate yourself because of me...

"Right, then Jennifer went soft and agreed, and the coach didn't, barking something about you having an important match next week, blah, continue."

No, Ryoma, don't continue, don't...

Daryl smiled excited at Ryoma, as he went down on one knee, and then the other. His fists were clenched very tightly.

Ryoma what are you doing? Sakuno screamed in her mind. Ryoma was sacrificing his pride for her, he did all these...for her. Sakuno was trembling. She had got to stop Ryoma from losing more of his dignity.

"I beg you...Just one day would be enough..."

Tan was focusing too much on Ryoma, and the knife is slipping away. Sakuno took this opportunity and elbowed Tan hard, kicking him away.

"Ryoma!" Sakuno shouted. Ryoma raised his head and saw happily that Sakuno was free.

"Get back here, you bitch!" Tan rubbed his chest angrily, reaching out for Sakuno.

"Get your fucking hands off her!" Ryoma jumped up and punched Tan knocking him unconscious. The strength people have when they are angry.

Ryoma grabbed Sakuno's hands and tried to run out of the tennis court. Somehow, X managed to run in front of them and block their way. Ryoma grabbed Sakuno by the waist.

"I'm not letting go of my Sakuno." Ryoma declared as he hugged Sakuno.

"Well, we'll make you then." X smiled, as he pointed at Ryoma.

The gang rushed forward and pushed Sakuno to the ground, as she screamed helplessly. Ryoma hugged onto her and fall along with her.

Sakuno could see that the people were kicking them, yet she felt no pain. All she felt were Ryoma's warmth surrounding her, as she was protected by Ryoma's body. She could feel Ryoma's grip on her hardened and tensed as he tried to suppress his pain.

Tears started trickling down Sakuno's cheek. Ryoma, what are you doing? Let go of me already. Stop kicking him, stop it, please...

"Stop, someone's coming." X ordered. Everything calmed down, as they walked away hurriedly.

"Ryoma-kun?" Sakuno said, lifting Ryoma up from her. The floor around her was red all over. Panic took over her. "Ryoma?" She shouted as she held Ryoma in her arms. Ryoma was unconscious, and he was bleeding very badly.

"Ryoma? Ryoma? Wake up!" Sakuno screamed, shaking Ryoma, tears blurring her vision.

XxXxX

If there were ever a prize for the most irritating person on Earth, Kevin would definiely nominate Ryoma. First they had been angry at each other, challenging each other into matches, and other random stuff, which Kevin was too ashamed to elaborate on, as Ryoma won every one of it. Next, Kevin had reminded Ryoma that he must get permission from both the team manager and coach in order to have free time for any form of date. From then on Ryoma had became very gloomy and forlorn, casting weird glare at Kevin all the time.

Then came the worst part. Kevin had been practicing as usual, when Ryoma had walked past him towards the coach and Jennifer. Of course Kevin had stopped whatever he had been doing and watched Ryoma. Ryoma not practicing like a maniac is something very weird. Then Kevin had seen, with his very own eyes, how Ryoma knelt down in front of the coach.

Jennifer's eyes had been very soft and she had hugged Ryoma, telling him to rise. Ryoma had refused, and Jennifer had to beg the coach along too.

Ryoma had been so desperate. If it were Kevin, Kevin doubted he had the courage to do that.

It was so irritating. The image, the words Ryoma said, everything kept bugging him. He had stopped pestering Ryoma after that day, Ryoma had shown his fullest sincerity in making up to Sakuno. But feeling unsure, Kevin had advised Ryoma on how to treat girls during dates, and had ordered him protect Sakuno.

So this was the last straw. Ryoma was absolutely irritating. Protecting Sakuno did not mean getting himself injured like that. Couldn't he ask for help? Couldn't he ring up for his bodyguards?

"Ryoma...he's fine isn't he?" Sakuno wept, gripping Ryoma's hands.

"He'll be fine, the doctor is a really good one." Kevin assured her.

That Daryl...

_"Hey, Kevin, don't lock up the place, I'll be staying here for a longer time."_

_"Wow, first time seeing you so hardworking, Daryl."_

_"Oh, it's nothing, I'm going somewhere later."_

_"Where?"_

_"Another tennis court, the one that genius goes to."_

_"Oh, you having a match with him? Good luck then."_

How could he have been so stupid? Kevin cursed himself. There was no way Ryoma would want to play against Daryl on the day of his date! By the time Kevin realised it and rushed to the tennis court, Ryoma was already this injured.

"Stop crying, okay?" Kevin offered Sakuno a tissue.

"I...I still can't believe...that Ryoma knelt in front...of his coach...so that he can get a free day...for this stupid date..." Sakuno said in between sobs. "He's...such an idiot..."

"Yeah, he is."

Ryoma is so irritating. Even if they were competing for this girl, he did not have to go this far. Throwing his pride away, risking his own life... I surrender, Ryoma, complete surrender.

XxXxX

_End._

_Reviews! I'm very interested to know how you felt about this long and draggy and drama chapter. :D_


	9. Chapter 9

Pah!

Ryoma placed his hands on the reddened cheek, staring at Jennifer in consternation.

"I'm disappointed in you, Ryoma, very disappointed in you." Jennifer said finally after a long silence.

Ryoma sat in silence, staring down at his blanket.

It had been two days already, and Ryoma was still not completely healed. His match was supposed to be tomorrow, but in his condition, he would definitely lose. Thank goodness the doctor Shane had enough authority to request for postponement of match to next week. This is the finals, where the champion of this grand slam will be decided. Suddenly having to postpone such an important event, it's no wonder Jennifer would be angry.

Ryoma was still sitting in silence, staring down at his blanket.

"You okay, Ryoma? Not used to being slapped by your loving manager, huh?" Kevin asked, smirking slightly, drinking his soup. Ryoma had aways been treated especially nice by Jennifer, and it was rare to see Jennifer actually angry at Ryoma. They were in Ryoma's house, where Ryoma was taken to be checked by his private doctor. Kevin came to visit him, and was greeted with a buffet of food in the dining hall of Ryoma's. Ryoma had a really big house and a really good cook.

Ryoma stared at Kevin sardonically, as the latter wolfed down his food greedily. "Haven't eaten for three days?"

"Haven't eaten such good food in my life." Kevin answered, eating more.

"Che, pathetic."

Kevin shrugged, ignoring Ryoma's insult and continued eating.

"How is she?"

"Huh? Who?" Kevin looked up.

"Sakuno, you idiot."

"Sakuno? What about her?"

"How is she?"

"She's fine I guess, back to school."

"Not injured?"

"Of course not, why would she be injured, with you acting as a physical barrier." Kevin started his lecture that he had been preparing for Ryoma all these time. "You should be grateful that I came to your house to check if you are alright. If I haven't been there, you would have been dead. Okay maybe not that bad. You would have broken a bone, and never able to play tennis ever. Letting yourself get beaten up like that, you must be mentally retarded. Thank goodness I talked to Daryl that day and found out that he was quite suspiscious. If not, your whole life would be ruined, Ryoma, ruined! Couldn't you at least stop and think for yourself, a bit?"

Ryoma slumped on his bed. "Please, stop it. I had enough lectures today."

"Well, I'm lecturing you in place of Sakuno. Do you know how much you made Sakuno cried? The more blood flow out of you, the more tears flow out of Sakuno."

Ryoma stared at the ceiling gloomily.

"Do you have any idea how much Sakuno cried just for you?" Kevin said, stuffing food in his mouth angrily. "First you wouldn't talk to her for three years, she cried in sadness at night. Second you kissed Jennifer, that made her cry even more. Now, this."

Ryoma stared blankly at space. Good, he's finally reflecting all his evil deeds that he had done, Kevin thought. Then, Ryoma turned and smiled at Kevin suddenly. "That means she loves me. You lose, Kevin."

Kevin glared at Ryoma as he felt his anger rising up. He was expecting some kind of apology, to say that he was sorry for making Sakuno cry, for breaking her heart, for making her suffer like that. The way he said this stupid sentence, so proudly... he did not even feel guilty about making Sakuno cry like that.

"That's not for you to decide!" Kevin shouted angrily.

"Well, but isn't it pretty obvious?" Ryoma said confidently.

"No. Just a stupid date doesn't make her love you back. You broke her heart and this stupid date has no ability to mend it up!" Kevin said staring down at Ryoma.

"This date isn't stupid."Ryoma scoffed. "Why does everyone says that?" He looked down. "But it is kind of meaningless. I didn't do what I wanted to do..."

"What do you want to do?"

"Confess. Tell her what I felt in these nine years. How much I loved her but didn't dare to say it. Planning to do that after the match, but well, the match hadn't began and I became like this." Ryoma laughed dryly.

Kevin felt his heart turned sour. If X and his gang had not decided to target Ryoma for whatever reason, Sakuno would have known how much Ryoma loved her all these while. And maybe, she would finally realise how much Kevin had been hiding, about Ryoma's love for her, about everything. If Ryoma was not attacked, Sakuno might, Kevin emphasised, _might_ love Ryoma again, and even worse, hate Kevin for hiding the fact...

"I like Sakuno too, in case you hadn't notice..." Kevin said bitterly.

"Jealous? I bet Sakuno is waiting for me to confess all this time."

"Well, we are going to confess together, and then we will know who Sakuno really loved."

"You will stress out Sakuno."

"Scared?"

"No way. Scared of you? Hah." Ryoma smirked.

"Shut up!" Kevin stood up, knocking his food to the ground.

"Hey that's my bedroom floor you're dirtying!"

"Fine! I'll clean it up!"

Ryoma was definitely the most irritating person in the whole world! Spoilt brat, pampered to the bones! So proud and confident that Sakuno will love him. Kevin clenched his fists angrily. Well, he's never letting Sakuno go!

The phone rang. Who would be calling him now?

He took it up. It flashed 'Sakuno'. Sakuno? Why was she calling? She was supposed to be in class, so why did she call? Was she in danger?

"Who is it?" Ryoma asked, sensing Kevin's anxiety.

"Sakuno."

"What? Why is she calling?" Ryoma jumped out of bed. "Put her on loudspeaker now!"

Kevin pressed the loudspeaker.

"Kevin? Kevin?" Sakuno seemed to be crying. Hard.

"Sakuno? What's wrong? Why are you crying?" Kevin asked anxiously.

"Help me...help..." He knew it, Sakuno was in danger. He stared at Ryoma, as Ryoma stared back equally shocked.

XxXxX

Sakuno shifted uncomfortably. She could not concentrate in class. Her classmates were all staring at her. In the morning, some random people she did not even know threw insulting words at her, thinking about it made her heart beat fast and her tears started coming to her eyes. She had never angered anyone before, why would they shout at her like that?

Now she was in class, and everyone was glaring at her. She thought it was something on her that looked weird at first, but she had checked and double-checked, but there was nothing wrong with her, except that her eyes were still swollen. So why were they eyeing her?

The class ended, finally. Sakuno wanted to get out of this place as fast as possible. She stood up and walked out of the lecture room.

Something long was sticking out, and Sakuno did not realise. She tripped and all her notes dropped into the ground.

"Watch where you're going, woman." The sticking out object was someone's leg and the master was sneering at Sakuno's fall.

She bit her lips to resist her tears to flow out in humiliation. She hurriedly picked up her notes, mumbling a soft, "Sorry."

As she walked out of the class, she could feel thousand pair of eyes watching her, mocking her, glaring at her. What had she done? Why were they all staring at her like that?

"Hey, stop where you are." A girl stood in front of Sakuno, blocking her way. After X and his gang, she was extremely paranoid about having someone blocking her way like this. She shrieked a bit and started walking in the other direction.

"I said, stop where you are!" The girl wrenched on Sakuno's hair. Sakuno cried out in pain as she dropped all her notes once again. The girl let go of her finally, and she collapsed onto the ground.

Several more girls started surrounding Sakuno. Sakuno's phobia started coming into her. She grabbed her notes, trembling helplessly. Scene of Ryoma getting beaten up, scene of blood dripping all over the ground vividly passed her mind. No, no, calm down, Sakuno... She picked up her notes as she shook uncontrollably.

"Look at her, pathetic." The girl bent down, making eye contact with Sakuno. "You, girl come with us. You will have to do a lot of answering."

They dragged her up the staircase, along the corridor, and it was after what seemed like eternal walking and pulling of hair, they threw Sakuno down into a certain room which looked like a toilet.

"Let me introduce who we are." The girl started talking. "We are fans of Ryoma, and we love him like how we love ourselves. And, being as fans, we bought the ticket to watch the upcoming match in which Ryoma was going to play and it will increase Ryoma's popularity and level of hotness."

"Then, there came the attack." A couple of girls gasped and a few hung their heads in sadness. "Ryoma was...attacked by a group of...of people, who was jealous of Ryoma because he was too great. It happened just last Saturday."

"See this photo. This is the photo of Ryoma after he was attacked." The girl showed her a photo in the phone. "He was so badly injured that he had to postpone the match, the match of paramount importance, the final of the grand slam."

"Now tell me, what is this?" The girl showed her another picture. In the picture, Sakuno was tugging at Ryoma, crying, while Ryoma laid unconscious. "Why are you in the picture? Do you have anything to do with the attack?"

Something to do with the attack? What? How? They must have thought it was Sakuno that injured Ryoma. "Erm, I think you are mistaken..."

"Mistaken?" The girl laughed malevolently. "No, I don't think you are mistaken. A few of our informers said that Ryoma had visited our dormitory quite often, and he would always visit a particular room. Room m4-...09, which so happens is your room. Now could you explain why was Ryoma in your room?"

"H...he was...a...a classmate of mine...in Japan before..." Sakuno stammered. "He came...to...to see me..."

"Classmate? Oh wow. Well, I'm a cousin of Bon Jovi." The girl said sarcastically. The other girls laughed venomously.

"Well, explain this." The girl showed her another photo taken. It was Ryoma grabbing Sakuno's hands as they ran out of the school on Saturday. They even took the picture of that? It was so early in the morning!

"Okay, who are you to Ryoma? Why are you always with Ryoma? Explain!" The girl grabbed Sakuno's collar and shook her.

"I told you...I was his classmate..." Sakuno said, choking on her tears.

"Like hell I would believe you!" The girl threw Sakuno roughly on the floor. "You, ever since Ryoma and you were seen together, Ryoma had been in several life dangers. First the semifinals, when he fainted after the match. Next, on the same day that Ryoma took you out, he was injured!"

Sakuno shook her head in denial, but the girl pushed her violently on the ground again. "You must have charmed our Ryoma, and made him to go out with you, when he never went out with anyone before! Then you secretly harmed Ryoma from his back. What did Ryoma do to you that you must do this to him? Speak!"

Sakuno's face was already half covered in tears, as she struggled to answer. "I...did not..."

The girl stood up. She signaled to the other girls. "We'll make her confess. Flush down her notes."

Sakuno sat there helpless, in the middle of a group of girls surrounding her, as she watched her notes being thrown into the toilet bowl, and flushed down. Why were they doing this to her? Whatever thay said, they have no evidence to prove it, why must they assume and made her say something that was not true?

She did not want to hurt Ryoma, she just wanted a proper date with Ryoma finally. All those 'dates' she went with Ryoma before were horrible. She had always wanted a nice date with Ryoma, and she got it. That day was the best day of all her life, Ryoma being so close to her, trying to make her smile, trying to get her to talk. It was quite awkward, but it was still fun. She did not want Ryoma to be attacked too. It ruined the best day of her life completely.

Why didn't they understand that, and leave her alone? She was sad enough. Maybe it was punishment, it was a punishment for her, for being a coward, for letting Ryoma get beaten up while she remained safe and well-protected.

"She's not talking." The girl rolled her eyes, as she watched Sakuno cry uncontrollably. "Let's lock her up in this toilet until tomorrow." She bent down and lifted Sakuno's head with her long nails. "If you are good and you decide to confess, we'll let you out, or else, you'll be staying here all the way till I come to school tomorrow."

They shut the door. 'Click', 'click', the door was locked.

"No, no..." Sakuno crawled over to the door. It could not be true. She could not be locked in the toilet. She grabbed the handle, but no matter how much she turned, pushed, banged, it would not barge.

"No...no..." Sakuno covered her face as more tears came flowing down. She's locked in the toilet. It was a punishment. Ryoma was beaten up, and he lost all his dignity just for that date, Ryoma gave so much for her, yet she did nothing for him.

But this punishment was too much, too much. Her notes...she spent the whole of her free time coming up with it, now it's all...flushed away. She snuggled. It was getting cold. She was left alone in this god-knows-where toilet, and the rest of the people were having their classes and lectures. And she was going to be left there all day, all night, till tomorrow.

No, she needs to get out of here. She took out her phone, trembling, and dialed Kevin's number.

"Kevin? Kevin?" She asked frantically.

"Sakuno? What's wrong? Why are you crying?" Came Kevin's anxious voice.

"Help me...help..." Sakuno choked on her tears again. She wiped her tears away, and realised that her tears were wetting the phone too.

"What happened, Sakuno? What's wrong? Say it slowly, okay, calm down. Yes that's right. Breathe in, breathe out. Now slowly tell me what's wrong."

Sakuno followed Kevin's direction and calmed down. "I'm locked in the toilet. Some-someone...a group of girls...they...they claimed to be Ryoma's fans, they suddenly grabbed me and threw me into this toilet...they flushed my notes away, and locked...me...in..." Sakuno stopped, realising that her tears were coming out again.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down now. Okay, we'll save the details for later. I'll come pick you up. Where are you exactly?"

"In my school..."

"Okay, I'm going there at once, alright? You stay there, and wait for me to get you out of there, okay? So where is that toilet of yours?"

Where was it located? Sakuno seriously had no idea. "I...I don't know...I didn't...I didn't take note of ..."

"Okay, okay, it's enough." Sakuno thought she could hear Ryoma's voice. "Get your butt in this car! Hurry!" "Alright, alright, I'm coming!"

"We're traveling to your school now, Sakuno, hang in there. We'll reach there in five minutes." Kevin assured. ("Directions, Kevin, I never went to her school before." "Okay, erm, turn left in this corner." "You'd better be sure, or else." "What do you think of me, an idiot? I'll go find Sakuno myself, you stay here." "I'm coming along, and this is my car, and you dirtied my bedroom!" "Geez, fine, fine!")

"Okay." Sakuno answered, and hung up the phone. Ryoma seemed to be coming too. She hid her face in her arms. After all this, Ryoma was coming to save her too. She did not know whether to be happy or sad.

XxXxX

Damn those fans, damn those fans, damn them all!

Ryoma clenched his fist as he cursed angrily. Locking in the toilet, these stuff happened in his elementary school in America, and even Seigaku, but he did not participate in it, nor did he try and save any of the victims. He was not interested. Furthermore, what's wrong with being locked in the toilet? It was not that bad, the toilet was quite clean, and the bench there was a good place to lie on.

He was so stupid then. Now thinking about it, of course being locked in the toilet was horrible. Hear how much Sakuno cried? It mush be scary, being in the toilet alone, all cold and only walls and sinks and toilet bowls to be stared at. At night, it must get really frightening for a girl like Sakuno.

"Are we reaching?" He asked impatiently. He had to save Sakuno out of that horrifying place before those fans go in and torture her some more. He knew what his fans were capable of, and he definitely was not going to let them torment Sakuno anymore.

"Reaching." Kevin said, eyes concentrating on the road, frowning.

Ryoma tapped his fingers as they reached another traffic light. Just drive through the traffic light, I'll pay the fines! Ryoma wanted to shout, but Kevin would definitely refuse.

Kevin, he was so irritatingly patient. When Sakuno was crying in the phone, he was serene enough to calm her down and get her to talk. If it were Ryoma, he'd just order Sakuno to wait there and he would rush to her school and knock down every door they have to find her. If Ryoma had not chase Kevin out of the house and get him to move, he would spend the whole day questioning Sakuno about the details.

"Reached."

Great, finally! Ryoma opened the door without waiting for the car to stop properly, and jumped out immediately.

"Hey, Ryoma, that's dangerous! You have not healed completely yet! Ryoma? Are you listening to me? Where are you running off to? We don't even know where she is!"

He's not going to follow Kevin. Kevin was too slow. He needed to get Sakuno out of that toilet fast, and stop her from crying anymore.

"You! Do you know where is Sakuno?" He stopped a person, grabbing him by the collar. The person stared back blankly. "Sakuno. Sakuno Ryuzaki!" He repeated impatiently but the person shook his head frantically.

He threw the person away, and searched around. Right, not everyone would know Sakuno, so he had to use another method.

His eyes caught sight of the assembly microphone. Great, this would make a wonderful announcement.

He went up to the platform and took the microphone.

"Ryoma, what are you trying to do?" Kevin shouted after him.

Ryoma turned on the microphone. "Attention everyone. This is Echizen Ryoma, and I'm looking for a girl called Sakuno Ryuzaki. I know that someone is hiding her somewhere, so you better tell me now where she is or I'll fuc-"

Kevin somehow rushed onto the platform and covered Ryoma's mouth to prevent him from saying further.

"No swear words, or it'll ruin your image!" He whispered frantically at Ryoma's ear. What? Now in this crisis situation, he was still thinking about his fucking image?

"Erm, this girl, Sakuno Ryuzaki is of utmost importance to us in our team, and we need to find her. So those people that hid her in the school as a fun practical joke, if you tell us where she is, Ryoma will personally sign on anything you want to sign on." Kevin said, taking over Ryoma's microphone, as he strangled Ryoma, preventing him to say anything.

Autograph? For those damned fans that made Sakuno suffer in the toilet? Yeah right! Ryoma struggled, trying to break free of Kevin, but Kevin was strong. He really regretted training Kevin.

"Okay, now we will wait for people to come." Kevin whispered, stopping Ryoma from struggling.

"Well, what if they refuse?" Ryoma whispered back angrily. "What if this make them suspicious of Sakuno calling us to save her, and they went back to torturing her?"

Kevin seemed to finally understood where Ryoma was going. Gosh he was such an idiot he did not even think of that.

"Okay, we have received information from the WRTY, from their SS GPS system that Sakuno Ryuzaki is in one of the female toilet. According to privacy code number 42, they could not tell what toilet she is in, so we are now going to check every female toilet here. Will everyone please evacuate from the toilet now to facilitate our investigation. Sorry for any inconvenience, and I deeply apologise if we ever...bumped into anyone accidentally in the toilet. Thank you."

Ryoma stared at Kevin like he was an idiot. "You think people will buy this crap?" He whispered incredulously.

"Hey give me some credit! I came up with these impromptu!" Kevin whispered back, as he was dragged off the platform by Ryoma.

Ryoma rushed to the nearest girl's toilet. He pushed the door opened, and realised that there were still some people in there. "Everyone get out, we are searching for Sakuno Ryuzaki. If you know where is she, spit it out now. If not, get the hell out of here." He ordered coldly, as the girls run out of the toilet, glaring at him.

"What are you doing, Ryoma?" Kevin pulled Ryoma away before he went in.

"Finding Sakuno?" Ryoma answered, staring at Kevin as if he was the biggest moron on Earth.

"You don't have to do this, Ryoma. Just slightly push every door. Sakuno is locked in the toilet, remember? We'll just find a locked toilet and then hit it down."

Makes sense. So Kevin wasn't as stupid as he looked.

"Okay."

XxXxX

_End of Chapter! Do you like it? Or do you think the story is getting too weird and far-fetched. I don't think these kind of stuff happens in University, everyone is so mature and stuff, but well, just ignore it please!_

_Review!_


	10. Chapter 10

_Hi. Sorry about this late update. But I was irritated at how sucky this chapter is, because no matter how much I edit it, it always seem so sucky._

_This might be the worse chapter I ever wrote, so bear with it. :P_

XxXxX

"You are in deep trouble, girl."

Sakuno jerked her head as the door slammed open. those girls were back. "Wh...at?"

"I know you did something. You must have. Ryoma Echizen is now in the school searching for you." The girl bent down. "I have no idea why I'm not taking his photo and stalking him." She turned to the other girls. "Take her phone and throw it down the toilet." Sakuno watched helplessly as her phone, the only communications to the outside world and her only lifesaver, was grabbed away.

"Well, did you have fun being in here? 'Cause we are bringing you into a new location. How about..." She pretended to be thinking hard. "The storage room?" She smirked as she grabbed Sakuno.

Sakuno struggled as hard as she could. She was not leaving! Kevin and Ryoma were looking for her, so if she left they could not find her at all. Oh, please, come here now, Ryoma, Kevin! Help! My hair hurts!

Sakuno had no idea where the courage came up from her, but she managed to kick the girl away, and slapping another girl that was also holding on to her.

"How dare you hit me?" The girl shouted, coming in towards her.

Sakuno braced herself, shutting her eyes closed, waiting for the consequences. Suddenly the door was pushed opened.

Sakuno's heart leapt as she saw Kevin's head in the creak of door. He's here!

But he did not come in. She watched in horror as Kevin started to walk away. I'm here, Kevin, don't go away! Kevin! She shouted inwardly.

"This door is not locked either." She heard Kevin's disappointed voice, followed by Ryoma's irritated voice. "How many toilets do this school have?" They were walking away, away from where she was. Sakuno stared in shock, as she watched the other girls changed their expression from dread to relief.

"No... Kevin! Ryoma!" Sakuno shouted after them.

"Shut her up, before they comes back!" The girl ordered, as they muffled her mouth.

Sakuno struggled away. "Ryoma! Ryoma!"

"Give up, they will never come back for you." The girl sneered.

No, it can't could they missed her just like that? Did she commit a sin so sinful that she had to be punished, over and over again, and now she could not even be rescued? Ryoma, please turn back after hearing my voice. Kevin too...

"Ryoma!" Sakuno shouted at the top of her lungs. She had never shouted so hard before, every time it was Tomoka that was helping her to shout. The girl stuffed a piece of cloth in her mouth, and somehow she was not able to make out an audible sound after that. Her mind went blank as the group crowded around her.

XxXxX

"Sakuno!" Ryoma slammed open the door. He looked around. All he saw was a group of girls standing at one corner. What were they doing? Whatever, he had no interest in them. He was sure he heard Sakuno's voice as they were running down the corridor, shouting his name, calling out for him. So where was Sakuno?

"Hey there, do you know where is Sakuno Ryuzaki?" He asked the group of girls. They seemed to be fans of him, suddenly smiling coyly, tidying up their hair, getting all excited.

"I don't know who are you talking about." The prettiest girl stood out and said, flatting her eyelashes.

"But I was dead sure I heard her voice." Ryoma said.

The girl turned around. "Girls, any of you has a second name that is Sakuno?" The other girls giggled stupidly.

Kevin ran up to him. "Hey Ryoma why did you run away like that? Get out of here, Sakuno's not in here."

Ryoma doubted it. He believed in his ears, and his ears told him that Sakuno was in here.

He walked into the toilet.

"Ryoma!" Kevin tried to stop him, but Ryoma glared at him. How could he not have heard Sakuno's cries as well?

"Spread out, all of you. Let me see your face one by one." Ryoma ordered. The girls did not budge, and still remained in that clustered position. They must be hiding something, or someone.

"I said, spread out." Ryoma repeated impatiently.

"If you force us to do that, we will sue you for sexual harrassment." The girl threatened.

"How is this even sexual harrassment?"

"The fact that you even stepped into the girls' toilet."

Ryoma felt his veins twitched in anger. Right, they were definitely hiding Sakuno within them. He rushed forward, pushing them aside. "Sakuno!"

There she was, mouth clogged up by a piece of rag, hands and legs binded by a bunch of irritating girls.

"Let go of her."

"But, Ryoma, she was the one that got you all injured and hurt. She needs to be punished!" The girl said.

"Shut up! Let her go didn't you hear me?"

The girl stared at him, apalled. They let her go reluctantly. Ryoma took out the rag in Sakuno's mouth, and she hugged him.

Ryoma had came to save her. She had thought he would never come, but he came back in the end. She hid her face in Ryoma's shirt and cried. She had thought that she would really have to stay here all day and all night, and it was really frightening, in here, all alone, and cold too. And Ryoma was really warm.

"It's okay, you're saved now." Ryoma assured her, hugging her rather awkwardly. He was shocked at how much Sakuno cried, and stood paralysed as Sakuno's tears wetted his shirt.

"I'm going to complain to the principal." The girl stomped out of the toilet, and her path was blocked by Kevin.

"Get out of my way." She said.

"Not until I warn you that I have recorded my phone conversation with Sakuno, and I will also complain to the principal about what you have done." Kevin answered, holding up his phone.

The girl glared at him, and walked away.

"Wait." Kevin stopped them.

"What do you want? I'm not complaining to the principal already, okay?" The girl shouted back.

"I do remember in the phone conversation, Sakuno said something about you flushing her notes into the toilet. Well..."

"Give these to the geek, let her be buried in it!" The girl flared up, throwing her own notes at Kevin and stomped away. The other girls followed hurriedly suit.

Kevin smiled as he watched them walk away. "I'll ask Sakuno to photocopy them for you." He turned his head and saw Ryoma wiping Sakuno's tears away.

"Don't cry." Ryoma said, wiping the tears with his hands. But no matter how much he wiped, more would come out of those beautiful brown eyes.

Ryoma had saved her again. Sakuno thought. Why did Ryoma had to save her? She was very sure the one she meant to ask to come was Kevin. Ryoma...He still had not completely healed yet. She could see bandage all over his chest. She was the one that caused him to become like this. Yet, Ryoma still bothered saving her.

Suddenly Ryoma came closer and his lips touched hers. Sakuno stared in shock at Ryoma, unable to move. She felt her blood rushing up to her face at the mere contact of their lips. Ryoma...was kissing her... How many times had she wished this would happen, and how many times had she told herself that after that Ryoma would never ever kiss her, and now, Ryoma was actually kissing her.

Her stiff body started to loosen up as she melted into Ryoma's kiss, clutching his shirt with her hands excitedly.

"Ryoma."

Ryoma pushed himself away from Sakuno. Sakuno stared at him. This kiss was her second, and it felt different from her first. There was a totally different feeling in this kiss. She felt as if, she wanted more, and when they broke away, she wanted Ryoma to bend down and kiss her again. She looked at Ryoma expectantly, but Ryoma was looking at another direction.

Sakuno followed his eyes and found Kevin. Oh right, she almost forgotten that Kevin was here too. She saw the position she and Ryoma was in, and promptly pushed Ryoma away, feeling her face flushing into a deep red.

"Sorry, I...acted without thinking..." Ryoma apologised, to both Sakuno and Kevin. Especially to Kevin, because he knew what it felt like, seeing the girl you loved kissed by your best friend. Kevin must be feeling really hurt and sad. Even though it was his fault for falling in love with Sakuno, who had been all the time Ryoma's. "You can punch me like the way I did last time."

Kevin had been staring at the floor for quite some time, with this pained expression in his face. "No need." He said averting his eyes from everyone.

XxXxX

"Okay, this is the room that me and Ryoma share." Kevin introduced. "Guess which bed is mine and which is Ryoma's."

Sakuno looked around. It was a spacious room, with two beds sitting next to each other. One bed was very neat and tidy, with a pillow and a blanket nicely folded, placed on the top of the bed. Another one was extremely messy. It appeared that the bed owner did not bother to tidy up the bed one bit. The mattress was very crumpled, the blanket were all over the bed, and even floor. Pillows were lying everywhere in that region near the bed.

A matching drawer was located in front of the bed, which possessed equal characteristics.

"Hmm, the neat one is yours, the messy one is Ryoma-kun's." Sakuno answered.

"Yup. Don't you think it suits our personality really well? This way, we would never mistake each other's beds. At least, I won't mistake Ryoma's for mine." Kevin said, lying on his bed comfortably.

Sakuno sat next to Kevin in his signal. "I thought Ryoma-kun has a house already."

"He has. But it is inconvenient to travel to the training area everyday if he lives there everyday, you know, with all his fangirls and stuff. So, we will room together on weekdays, and on weekends we go back to our real houses." Kevin explained.

"I see. Then I want to see Kevin's house. I saw Ryoma-kun's house before, so, I'm curious to see what your house looks like."

"You'll be greatly disappointed. It's not as big, as wonderful, as anything-you-want-a-house-to-be as Ryoma's magnificent house with fantastic cooks. Even I was quite surprised at Ryoma's house. I couldn't believe that other people don't know where he lives, it is so big and eye-catching."

"Yeah. We took a stroll in his house before, and the house was so big, I think it can be compared to my school."

"It's not that big. But well, eaten there?"

"Yes! The food was really good!"

"The cook was really good, they even would show you how they make all those weird french cuisine."

"Really? I want to watch! I want to learn how to make."

"Okay, next time you go Ryoma's house, don't forget to ask the cook to show you."

"Wait, why are we talking about Ryoma's house, when it was your house I planned to go?"

They stared at each other and laughed.

"Sakuno." Kevin said, all serious again.

"Yes?" Sakuno answered, becoming equally serious.

"You..." Kevin said, staring down uncomfortably. "You still liked Ryoma all along, don't you?"

"What? Why are you talking about that suddenly?" Sakuno said, averting her eyes too.

"Well, it's true...isn't it?"

Sakuno stared at Kevin. He had a really hurt expression, the same one he wore after Ryoma kissed her. Her heart gave a twinge.

She knew it was true. It was true that she still liked Ryoma, even after she witnessed him kissing Jennifer, even after the many times spent with Kevin. Ryoma had been her crush for nine years already, and replacing him in her heart would take a really really long time, which three months was not enough. In fact, she still liked him so much that just one stupid date made her realised all her feelings once again, when she thought that she had gotten over with in those three months with Kevin.

She had always liked, no, loved Ryoma, but she was just heartbroken as Ryoma did not return the love. Now, she knew Ryoma loved her too. He could even throw off all his treasured pride for her, and that, even if Sakuno would not admit it, made her very touched, and she actually loved what Ryoma did for her.

But seeing how much she had hurt Kevin herself, she felt extremely guilty. Back at the school when Ryoma kissed her, she had forgotten Kevin's presence and allowed herself to enjoy the kiss that she had always been waiting for to the fullest. It was selfish, and she felt very conscience-stricken about it.

"You're...you're a good friend too." Sakuno smiled, assuring Kevin.

Kevin laughed dryly. "Good friend, huh. Well, as a good friend, I recommend you to not love Ryoma, because the situation will get very messy and soon Ryoma would have to break your heart again."

"Why...why do you say that?" Sakuno frowned. Was Kevin jealous? His face did show some trace of jealousy, but his voice was dead serious about it.

"You'll see." Kevin shrugged. He smiled at Sakuno. "I love you too, you know that?"

Sakuno nodded sadly. "I know."

"I'd better get back to practice." Kevin said. "You stay here, or Ryoma will blame me for not taking good care of you."

Sakuno watched as Kevin left the room. Kevin looked sad and depressed when he left. Did she say something wrong?

She sighed. Ryoma loved her, and Kevin loved her too. What was she going to do?

XxXxX

"200 laps, Ryoma." Jennifer said, glaring at Ryoma.

"Yes, Jennifer." Ryoma said obediently.

The rest of the team were looking at them, amused. Ryoma had been known for being Jennifer's favourite, and Jennifer always seem to treat Ryoma especially nice. Normally, Jennifer would pout to the coach, requesting the coach to give less laps to Ryoma, after all, he's good enough already, everybody knows that, and he did not need to waste energy on useless exercises such as running laps. Now, it was Jennifer giving laps to Ryoma. And 200 is a lot.

"Hurry up! Is this your best speed?" Jennifer shouted at Ryoma as Ryoma picked up his speed.

Jennifer glared at Ryoma angrily as he ran. She had always liked Ryoma. He was a great kisser, he was handsome, and recently he had grew taller than her, which made her like him even more. He was an extremely proud person, which she respected it, as he was indeed, in her opinion, the best tennis player in the team, the one with the most potential to bring fame to the team. He was very loyal to the contract, never skipping a single practice, giving his all into proning his skills, becoming a pro tennis player, making his way up in the rankings.

Now, everything he was doing seemed to be going against what she had always thought of Ryoma.

He had just broken the rule in the contract. Very seriously. The worse thing was, he even asked permission for it, and all his pride vanished when he did that. He had just made himself so injured he had to skip practice. When she expected him to stay in the house obediently to recover completely, he ran away and cause trouble in one of the most prestigious university in America.

What happened to you, Ryoma? She thought, her fingers tapping on her arm with vexation. If this continued, all her plans for Ryoma, for this team, for everything would go down the drain. She needed to get Ryoma back into concentrating on tennis. Especially when next week was his match.

She saw Kevin running into the court hurriedly. She thought of an idea and left the court, not forgetting to whisper to the coach to get him to make Ryoma do the hyper intense schedule.

XxXxX

"Hi, you're Sakuno, right?"

Sakuno turned around, and saw Jennifer. "Erm, hi..."

Sakuno was sitting on Ryoma's bed, reading the notes that Kevin got for her. There were lots of doodles and factual errors in it, Sakuno spent most of her time correcting it, perfecting it and adding more notes in it.

She did not really want to go to school for now, so she had just asked her teacher to send her all the lecture notes to her, and she will spend all her time in learning by herself.

She stared at Ryoma's manager as she sat down nicely on Kevin's bed, waiting for her to start speaking. "So, Sakuno, I heard that you and Ryoma are together now, am I right?"

"Together? I...We're not...really together..." Sakuno stammered, blushing.

"You two _are_ together." Jennifer said, annoyed. "Listen, Sakuno, Ryoma has a contract to keep. You two are not supposed to be together. He's not supposed to even communicate with other people. So you two have to stop being together. At least for a year, alright? You are making him lose his concentration. His performance is getting worse, and if he don't concentrate anymore, he is never going too make it to the top. Tonight, after his training, go talk to him, and tell him to win the next match, and the next competition, and say that in order for him to do that, you have to stop seeing him."

Sakuno stared at Jennifer in disbelief. "Well, we...we're not really seeing each other in the first place..."

Jennifer slammed her hand onto the bed. "I don't care what you do, just get Ryoma back to normal! I need Ryoma to get his concentration back, in order to win!"

They stared at each other in awkward silence.

"So you think breaking up with him will get him to concentrate." Sakuno said, her voice sounded harsher than she wanted.

Jennifer rubbed her temples in frustruation. "Just...just...somehow...Alright! I don't care about the contract! Ryoma had broken almost all the rules already in this one month. Just get him to win! You can be together with Ryoma, you two can date and have a nice honeymoon together, but Ryoma has to win the next match. Get it?"

Jennifer stood up angrily and walked out of the room.

"You know, you can always get Kevin. He treats you well enough. You don't have to have Ryoma you know. Kevin is rich too." Jennifer threw these words at her before leaving.

Sakuno flushed. She's starting to hate this manager of Ryoma's. She made it seem as if she's trying to get Ryoma because of his wealth and fame. I can be wealthy too if I want! I'm a scholar in math major! She bit her lips and went back to her notes.

XxXxX

_Well, how is it? I find it very sucky, but I just can't seem to find out what's wrong. Maybe there's something wrong with my plot. Anyway, I promise next chapter will be better._

_Review!_


	11. Chapter 11

_Okay, more Ryoma/Sakuno coming up! Haha there will be more and more as time comes. The regulars are coming in this chapter. Hehe._

_Well, hope you enjoyed. I didn't spend a lot of effort on this so this may be very bad, but... :P_

Sakuno sat outside the tennis court, studying. She had been waiting in the room for god knows how long. In the long wait she had studied thoroughly, cleaned up the room, tidied up Ryoma's bed, taken a good warm bath, played the limited video games available, and did some extra research for supplementary. Kevin had come home long time ago, taking her out for dinner, and he was now resting at home, watching television.

The time now was 10.30pm, and Ryoma was still training. Sakuno had decided to wait for Ryoma outside the tennis court so that she could talk to him immediately after his training and go to sleep.

Time passed as Sakuno's watch ticked away, with the balls at the tennis court emphasizing every second passed. Sakuno had printed out some physics notes on some weird theory, in hope that she would be able to stay awake while doing something new. Well, apparently physics was not as easy as it seems.

"Sakuno."

Sakuno felt someone shaking her. Oh god, was she asleep all these time? She opened her eyes slowly, and Ryoma's big, catlike eyes were staring right at her, giving her a shock.

She jerked herself upright. (She realised she had, somehow, managed to lie on the bench she was sitting in a comfortable sleep position.) "Ryoma-kun, you're finally done with training."

Ryoma nodded, exhausted. "You have been waiting all these time?"

"Yeah. What time is it now?" The tennis court was so empty, and the lights were out too. The only light she could see was the exit sign.

"Midnight."

"Midnight?" Sakuno repeated, shocked. Ryoma trained from early morning till midnight everyday? Is that the reason why he collapsed out of over-exhaustion?

"They...they trained you too hard..." Sakuno said, holding out. Ryoma seemed so tired he looked like he might just fall onto the ground anytime.

Ryoma shook his head. "I'm okay. I'm used to it. Anyway today they purposely set me up for this hyper intense schedule, so it's a bit more tiring." Ryoma heaved his tennis rackets over his shoulder. "So, what do you want to tell me?"

Sakuno flushed. She had spent lots of time thinking of how to tell Ryoma what Jennifer wanted her to tell. Ryoma started walking, and she followed suit, taking a big breath before speaking.

"Well, Jennifer came to see me today."

Ryoma's eyes widened in shock. "She did?"

"Yeah, she told me to get you to concentrate on practice. She said your performance is getting worse, and she wants you to win the next match and the next competition no matter what."

"I see." Ryoma said simply.

"Well, she wants me to stop seeing you."

Ryoma stopped dead in his tracks. "Why?"

Sakuno shuffled her feet. "Well, apparently she thinks that not seeing you will improve your concentration, and you will do better with me gone..." She trailed off ass Ryoma's glare glowered even more.

"What crap. So she thinks that I'm losing my concentration because of you? Che. I'm losing my concentration because I'm always thinking about the contract, and it's irritating." Ryoma said angrily. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. "Last Wednesday, if it wasn't for you being there, I would have already fainted halfway during the match. You're the one that will improve my concentration, and will make me do better in tennis. You have to stay no matter what."

Sakuno blushed. "Okay...I...I'll tell Jennifer that. But you better prove it, or else she'll come pestering me again."

"Hn." Ryoma smiled. "Have you eaten?"

"Yup." Sakuno looked at Ryoma. "Don't tell me that you have not eaten yet?"

"Ate some snackbars and onigiri..." Ryoma said weakly. "I need a proper meal. After I change let's go down there. There's a 24 hours burger shop."

Sakuno nodded. She shut her eyes as Ryoma changed (even though Ryoma said it's okay, he was just changing the top), and went to the burger shop with Ryoma.

"One double cheeseburger, one mushroom supreme, one bbq pork burger, one teriyaki chicken burger, one fish fillet burger, and the rest of the usuals, every one of it upsized. Thank you."

"Okay, coming. You're eating more than usual aren't you?" The man at the counter smiled.

"The training today was harder than usual." Ryoma answered simply.

"Okay, then. Two, four, six, eight, ten, twelve, fourteen burgers. Here you go."

"Fourteen burgers? Ryoma are you crazy?" Sakuno exclaimed.

Ryoma shrugged. "You can help me finish up my fries."

Sakuno watched as Ryoma wolfed his burger down like a person who had not eaten for three years, and slowly ate up the fries.

"Sakuno."

"Yes?" Sakuno asked, blushing. Ryoma seemed to be saying her last name more and more frequent. He used to call her Ryuzaki, but somehow, something happened, and he started calling her Sakuno. Sakuno blushed more when she realised that she, too, had stopped calling Ryoma Ryoma-kun anymore.

"Do you like Kevin?"

"What?" Sakuno stared at Ryoma, who was staring back very intensely.

"Well, I...He's a really nice guy, and very cheerful, easygoing, and he listens to me when I complain about...stuff, he's a real good friend. So...yeah I think I can say I like him." Sakuno answered uncomfortably. Why was Ryoma asking her such weird questions?

"Then..." Ryoma lowered his eyes, and then raised it again. "Do you like me?"

Sakuno almost spat out her fries in her mouth. She could feel her blood rushing up into her head. "I...I..." She averted her eyes from Ryoma, unable to answer.

There was a long awkward pause before Ryoma sighed, and ate his last bite.

"Sakuno," Ryoma said. "I love you."

Sakuno stared at Ryoma incredulously. Ryoma was blushing slightly, but he kept his eyes on her adamantly. "I have always liked you ever since we first met. I just didn't want to admit it in front of the sempais." He pulled his signature cap down, covering his face. "I liked you a lot, I just don't know how to tell you...I was planning to tell you when my contract ends, but...I can't wait any longer." He reached out hesitantly and held Sakuno's hands. "I...I love you."

Sakuno felt her face becoming deep crimson red. This was the first time Ryoma, the tennis prodigy, ever stammered while talking."I...I also liked you ever since I saw you...I thought you were pretty cool...I was just waiting for you to tell me that you liked me first..." She trailed off, unable to speak.

Ryoma smiled a shy, contented smile. "I see. Sorry for making you wait so long." He said, pulling Sakuno into a kiss.

XxXxX

"I heard that Echizen went into the finals of the grand slam."

"Eh? Really? Whoa, Ochibi is so good."

"I have been watching his other matches, he had improved a lot, and had surpassed my data."

"Saa, how about go and support him in his match?"

"Great idea, nya!"

"Yes, then I can check my newly-updated data with the match."

"Heard that Sakuno is also in America with Ryoma."

"Oooooo... Ryoma is so lucky..."

"When are we going to visit them? I miss Ochibi!"

"I already bought nine tickets, for us, Coach Ryuzaki, and Sakuno's friend."

"Wow, that's fast."

"Yahoo! Let's go now!"

XxXxX

Kevin stared at the white, plain ceiling. Sakuno had bothered to tidy up Ryoma's bed, so when he went to bed he almost mistook Ryoma's bed for his.

Sakuno, she even bothered to clean up Ryoma's bed for him, when normal people just detoured around it, trying to get as far from it as possible. He should have noticed then, that Sakuno still loved Ryoma. How dumb it was for him to believe that he could change her mind.

Seeing Ryoma's dumb expression, he knew that Ryoma had confessed, and they had gotten together.

"Sakuno went to find you, she said she need to tell you something." Kevin said when Ryoma finally came back.

"Yeah, it's nothing." Ryoma said, smiling.

Ryoma was smiling.

It's weird, Ryoma never smile unnecessarily. Kevin sighed. He had always dreaded this day to come. He knew Sakuno had loved Ryoma, but she was denying it, so Kevin was grabbing the chance to get close to her. However, seeing Ryoma's dumb expression, it seems Sakuno still loved Ryoma and would always love Ryoma. Well, if Sakuno really liked Ryoma, then, it's only right for him not to try and get in the way. Anyway, there was no way he could win Ryoma. Ryoma had won completely, again.

"You win again, Ryoma." Kevin repeated his thoughts sadly. And he had loved Sakuno so much... Life is so unfair.

Ryoma stared at Kevin uncomprehensively. Then he smiled that stupid, cocky smile of his. "Mada mada dane, Kevin."

"Better treat her well. If you make her cry again, I'll kill you." Kevin meant every word he said.

"Hn. By the way, where's my bed?"

XxXxX

"Ryoma! What is this?"

Ryoma groaned. Jennifer was getting more and more naggy. "What now?"

"Why is this girl with you?" She demanded.

"What's wrong with her?" Ryoma demanded back.

Sakuno had came down to the practice area again this afternoon, carrying three sets of bento, and a whole stack of notes she said to 'kill time'. Just when Ryoma had brought Sakuno into the court, elated, thinking that he could finally have some proper Japanese style lunch finally after so many years, Jennifer had to come in and destroy his good mood.

"I thought I told you to leave Ryoma alone?" Jennifer shouted, grabbing Sakuno.

"I...I did...but he said..." Sakuno stammered.

"Leave Sakuno alone!" Ryoma flared up. What did she think she was, grabbing my Sakuno like that?

Jennifer let go of Sakuno, shocked.

"She's staying here, by my side, from now on. She is mine, and don't you dare try and take her away from me." Ryoma said, louder than what he wanted. Everyone was staring at them.

Shit, she's the team manager. Ryoma realised as he pulled Sakuno behind him, bracing for what's going to come next.

Jennifer stood there, paralysed. Then she turned and left. "You had better win the next match for me." She threw the sentence at Ryoma bitterly, calling the coach in, probably to request for an increase in Ryoma's training.

There was an awkward silence as everyone stared and the impact of the whole incident sank in.

Ryoma sat down opposite Kevin, and pulled Sakuno to sit next to him.

"She's yours, huh." Kevin said sourly.

Ryoma glared at him. "Yes, and whatever I said applies to you too."

"Geez."

Sakuno sensed the intensity between the two, and decided to intervene. "Um, the bento's getting cold. I think we should eat now." Sakuno said, smiling nervously, passing down the bento. "I spent a lot of effort on this, so please enjoy!"

"Itadakimasu." They said, and started eating. Sakuno sighed, and ate too.

She had just ate two mouthfuls, and Ryoma announced that he had finished, and he left hurriedly for training again. Sakuno stared at the leaving Ryoma, disappointed. She had thought she could talk some more with Ryoma, and try and understand him more, now that they had confessed to each other.

"Your bento is really delicious, Sakuno." Kevin said.

"Ah, arigatou!" Sakuno bowed gratefully, and somewhat apologetically.

Yesterday night Ryoma had brought her to a free room next to their room so that she could aviod the school areas for now, and she had thought a lot while trying to sleep. She knew that Ryoma and Kevin both loved her, and the right thing for her to do was to choose one, and she had, without hesitation, chosen Ryoma, no matter what Kevin said about him going to break her heart once again. So she needed to break up with Kevin, and she had no idea how to do that. After all, Kevin had been really nice to Sakuno throughout.

"I know what you're thinking, Sakuno." Kevin said finally. "I understand." He shrugged. "I have to admit, Ryoma is a better guy than me."

Sakuno shook her head. "No, Kevin, you're a really nice person too. Those days with you were really fun too. I really liked being with you."

Kevin smiled. "It's okay. I'm still your good friend, right?"

Sakuno nodded hardly.

Kevin laughed. "Well, let's continue eating then. I only have twenty minutes break."

Sakuno smiled, relieved. Kevin was such an easygoing and cheerful person.

"Jaa, I'll be going then." Kevin gobbled down his last mouthful, and went.

Sakuno nodded and watched them practice. Let's get back to reading those notes...

XxXxX

"There she is! The horrible person that harmed our Ryoma!"

Jennifer smiled. "Just do not do too much harm on her or else Ryoma will get suspicious."

"Okay, but the girl will get it."

"Thanks a lot, Cheryl, you're a great help."

"No thanks, Jennifer, it's my job as the leader of Ryoma's fanclub to ensure Ryoma's safety."

XxXxX

"Ooooh! America is such a wonderful place!" Oishi exclaimed happily, looking around the landscape.

"No it is not! Everywhere, everywhere has English words on it!" Eiji grabbed his hair and knelt down dramatically. "I can't understand it, none of them! This is a horrible English test nightmare!"

"Come on, Eiji, your English isn't that bad..." Oishi said, trying to calm down his dear friend.

"Hmm, the temperature, humidity, and environment here are all different, guess I need to make those changes in Ryoma's data..." Inui said, busily taking the temperature of the place around.

"What are you doing mamushi?" Momoshiro shouted.

"What is that? Want me to do it again?" Kaidoh shouted back, and they ended up strangling each other.

"Wonder what Ryoma looked like now, ne, Tezuka?" Fuji asked, smiling at Tezuka. Tezuka made no reply.

Kawamura was looking around. He was more interested in sightseeing than anything else, though after many years of seperation from tennis, he did want to see a good tennis match once in a while. He spotted a girl with long brown hair carrying a book walking down the pavement, and stared at her.

"Kawamura-sempai, what are you staring at?" Tomoka asked.

"I thought I saw someone that look like Sakuno-chan."

"Really? Where?" Tomoka looked around, and saw the girl with the long brown hair. "Is it that girl? Yeah she does look a bit like Sakuno." She ran towards her. She was surrounded by a group of girls, so she couldn't see very clearly. Eh, Sakuno seemed to be very popular.

"Sakuno, is that you?" Tomoka shouted excitedly, with Kawamura following her.

The girl turned around. Yes she is Sakuno! That familiar face, it never changed! Though she had grown taller and her body was fully grown and had a wonderful curve. How much she had missed Sakuno, her dear best friend. She laughed at Sakuno's surprised face, and ran towards her, waving. "Sakuno, a long time no see! Do you remember me?"

"Tomo-chan?"

Tomoka's smile on her face disappeared when she saw tears on Sakuno's eyes. Sakuno was crying? Sakuno never cried, even though she looked weak. She only cried while watching movies, and thinking about Ryoma-sama. The rest of the time she was really strong.

She pushed through Sakuno's friends, and went to Sakuno. "Sakuno, why are you crying?"

"Tomo-chan..." She shrank in Tomoka's arms, as if hiding away from the people around her. Tomoka looked around. Those people, they were not Sakuno's friends.

"Who are you people?" She demanded.

"Who is this person, suddenly interferring, how rude." One girl said in English.

"I am Tomoka, and Sakuno's best friend, and I won't let you go if you bully her!" Tomoka said in a very horrible English accent.

The group of girls laughed. "What is this girl saying?"

Tomoka felt her blood rushing up her face, embarrassed. Damn it, I got a 'C' in my English test, alright? She pulled Sakuno, and led her away from these horrible people.

"Where are you taking her to? She's our prey. She hurt our Ryoma, and as the leader of Ryoma's fanclub, I have to get her out of Ryoma's sight!"

Tomoka stopped. "Leader of Ryoma's fanclub?" She turned around and faced the girl. "Who are you joking?_ I_ am the leader of Ryoma's fanclub, NOT you! Get lost!"

"What did you say?" The girl shouted back.

Kawamura rushed into the scene. "Eh, Sakuno-chan, you're here! I guess I should call the rest of the people."

The girls looked at Kawamura, and the group of Japanese people crowding in the other side of the place, and decided to run away.

"That's right!" Tomoka shouted after them. "Run away! With your tails between your legs, and never come back! Serve you right for bullying my friend and stealing my title of the leader of Ryoma's fanclub!"

"Tomo-chan..."

Tomoka turned around. "What happened Sakuno? Why were you crying?"

"N...nothing..."

"Tell me!" Tomoka grabbed Sakuno on her shoulders and shook her. "You have to tell me!"

"Okay!" Sakuno exclaimed, feeling very dizzy with the shaking. "I'll tell you."

XxXxX_ travel back in time for 15 minutes_

It was when Sakuno had read and understood and read again and fully understood the notes she had, she decided to go back to her room and have a good bath. She helped Ryoma refill his water bottle, and passed him a clean, dry towel, and left.

She was leaving when Ryoma stopped her. "Be careful okay?" He said, frowning. "I don't know what would happen to you, first Daryl, then those fangirls, and now Jennifer is angry..."

"I'll be fine." Sakuno assured. Ryoma nodded. He cupped Sakuno's face with his hands gently, and kissed her. "You'd better be."

Sakuno blushed and waved goodbye.

She walked down the pavement. She decided to make a detour towards a shop to buy some food and ingredients. That was when the group of girls surrounded her.

Oh no, it's not good. After the two incidents of people surrounding her, she was already used it, and knew that something was definitely not right. She cringed and started to walk away.

One girl stopped her. "Please, listen to what we have to say, Sakuno." This girl was different from the group of girls in her school. She had a feeling of dignity and authority around her, and there was no air of vindictiveness that wanted to harm her. Letting her guard down, she stopped willingly, ready to listen what this girl had to say.

"I am the leader of Ryoma fanclub, and I am responsible for Ryoma's safety. We have to make you understand that being with Ryoma will only cause him harm, and we need you to leave Ryoma."

"What?" Sakuno frowned. The contents in what they said were exactly like Jennifer. Jennifer must have sent them. "I'm sorry, but Ryoma wants me to stay with him. If you really are Ryoma's fan, then you have to listen to him."

"Well, we have information that Ryoma is delusioned, and we have to get you away from Ryoma in order for him to get back to normal." The girl insisted.

"If you make me leave Ryoma, Ryoma will purposely lose the next match!" Sakuno threatened.

The girl twitched. "Why you..." She barked. "Get her, we're forcing her!"

Sakuno stared at them as they came closer, and her paranoia came back. She started trembling, but she kept herself calm holding onto her notes. Ryoma won't come rescue her anymore. Why, why do they always want to try and seperate her from Ryoma? What's wrong with her being with Ryoma? If she get herself hurt from this, Ryoma would be worried, and he will lose the next match, definitely. She did not want Ryoma to lose the match because of her.

Her tears came up to her eyes. Why can't people leave them alone? Ryoma had finally confessed to her, what she had always wanted, and now, everyone was trying to ruin it. First Daryl, then the group of girls, then Jennifer... Now no one would come rescue her, and she would just stand here helpless as they tore her dreams of being with Ryoma forever...

"Sakuno!"

She turned around. That voice, it couldn't be...

It was! It's Tomo-chan! Why was she here? "Tomo-chan!"

XxXxX _Travel back to now..._

Sakuno squirmed in her seat. Tomoka had made her say the story to the rest of the regulars. Then after that they had threw in a lot of questions due to a lot of loopholes in the way she told the story.

"So, you and Ryoma are together finally?" Tomoka asked. Tomoka had known that she liked Ryoma a lot, and had supported her. She had thought Tomoka would be angry as Tomoka liked Ryoma, but it seemed it was just mere idolisation.

"Yeah." She nodded as the rest of the regulars go 'ehhhhh...'

"How did you two get together?" Fuji asked, interested.

Sakuno blushed. "Well, he asked for a date...then he confessed, then I confessed too, then..." They glared at her with the look of I-want-to-know-the-full-details. Sakuno sighed, and told them the full story from scratch. (A/N: start from chapter one.)

"Ehh..." They exclaimed once again. They had not thought Ryoma to be this romantic.

"Interesting. This surpassed all my data. I need to relook it again." Inui said, making more changes.

"Eh, Ryoma is so romantic, I can't believe it!" Momoshiro said.

"Saa, how does it feel like, being kissed?" Fuji asked.

Sakuno blushed, unable to answer.

"Fuji, you're embarassing her." Oishi said. "Sakuno, is the Kevin the guy from the America team that came and challenged Ryoma that time?"

Sakuno nodded.

"Whose kiss were better, Ryoma or that Kevin's?" Fuji asked again.

Sakuno blushed even more, but she knew the answer. "Ryoma's..."

"Oooohh!"

"Stop it, sempai, you're embarrassing Sakuno!"

"Ooooooh I knew Echizen had it in him "

XxXxX

_Sorry, it was hard handling so many characters... Phew._

_Okay, now we are cleared of some troubles, and more troubles are coming up. Geez, why am I making this so longwinded?_

_Hope you guys can stand this ridiculously long fanfic. I'll try to end this as soon as possible. Phew._

_Review!_


	12. Chapter 12

_Okay, guys. I'm really really really really really really really SORRY about this late update. Sorry! I know how it feel like, having to wait so long for a stupid fic. Well, I'm really sorry, I have too much things to do, and I'l sacrificing my sleep time so that to finish this chappie!_

_I'm sorry!_

_I hope you'll forgive me by reading, enjoying and reviewing. :D_

_I promise I won't update this late again._

_But, don't get false hopes too soon..._

_This story's ending anyway! Cannot make it too long._

Jennifer felt her eyes twitched. And twitched. And twitched. First came that Sakuno girl, now a whole bunch of people were here. Ryoma was not supposed to be communicating with other outside people, hello! But will they ever listen? Jennifer watched with frustration as the seven crazy boys run wild in her training area she herself especially bought.

"Awesome, Ryoma, I didn't know such big training area even existed!" One red haired boy shouted, hugging Ryoma. Ryoma tried his best to get out of his wrath, seeming to be suffocating.

The others, well, she did not want to even look at what they were doing.

"Hey Jennifer, why is today's court so crowded? Are they newcomers?" A tennis player came and asked.

"Shut up and go back to practice!" She shouted, venting her whole day's anger on him.

Today was a horrible day.

First, she had especially entrusted her trusted licensed Ryoma's fanclub with her loyal friend Cheryl in charged as leader to get Sakuno out of her sight (and Ryoma's sight). Then Cheryl came and said that their plans were distrupted. Now that girl would still be in her sight, and right now seeing her and Ryoma sitting next to each other, with Ryoma's arm around her waist, it just made her angrier.

Second, Ryoma's competition would be three days more, and here comes all his seniors (so she was told; she was not so sure these people could be actually seniors, except for that few quiet ones) and they started playing around, and forcing Ryoma to stop training.

Third, after she shouted at them to leave Ryoma alone, one extremely cute guy came and persuaded her to let them train Ryoma. She had agreed (what was she thinking?), and thus her priviledges as a team manager were gone.

Four (oh the list just keep going), that cute guy refused her no matter what she tried. (A/N: guess who is that cute guy? :D)

Five...oh this is just so annoying! Jennifer thought angrily as she left the training area.

Ryoma had changed a lot since three years ago, gradually, slowly, she should have noticed then.

_-Jennifer flashbacked-_

_~hint #1_

"_Echizen Ryoma, huh." Jennifer smiled, impressed. "Your performance was the best I've ever seen."_

_The green haired boy just stared at her, emitting an aura that would send shivers down any ordinary person. "Thanks." He said simply, pulling his hat down. This boy was going to be the best in the team, and he would be the one that would pull the team to its fame, if he ever joined the team._

"_So, do you want to sign this contract?" Jennifer pushed the contract towards Ryoma, who picked it up and read it. "Four years of contract, with all these benefits, and an assurance of increasing your status in the tennis world, which, for you, I might be assuring you at least the top three for grand slam." _

_She could see the coach frowning at her assumption, which might seem impossible at first, but Jennifer knew it was possible, given Ryoma's talent as shown in his performance. _

"_But," Jennifer warned. "You have to cut all communications with other people other than the authorised people like me and the coach, and your family, who are not allowed to tell anybody of your information."_

_There was a slight expression of worry on Ryoma's eyes before it vanished completely. "Why?" he asked._

"_Because, the way our team works, as you could read it on that contract, we are going to pull you to fame to the level of a superstar, so having too much communication just make everything worse."_

_Ryoma nodded solemnly. It was obvious he did not like that rule. Reading through the rest of the contract, and considering the pros and the cons, Ryoma shrugged, and signed it._

_Jennifer smiled, cheering inside her head._

_~hint #2_

_Jennifer watched as Ryoma practised. He was one of the most hardworking ones, no, the most hardworking one in the team, and one of the ones, no, the one that improved the most throughout. He was getting better than the rest of the people, and those that bullied him at first were all beaten by him in the end._

_She saw Kevin walking next to her. Kevin and Ryoma were the youngest in the team, but Ryoma seemed better. Kevin seemed pretty normal. Well, Jennifer remembered Ryoma saying that Kevin was actually much better than she thought, but she had only enough space in her mind to focus on one person. Kevin was the only one Ryoma could talk to without getting into fights, or ending up in awkward stares, and they seemed to get along pretty fine, rooming with each other with absolutely no problem at all._

"_Kevin." She called. "How's life with Ryoma? He doesn't fight with you like he did with other people we tried to room him with?"_

_Kevin looked surprised that Jennifer even talked to him, and hesitated. "Erm, well." He rubbed his head. "These days Ryoma seemed more talkative at night."_

"_Oh?" Jennifer smiled, interested. "Ryoma is talkative? Never occured to me."_

"_No, well, only at night. Right in the middle of my sleep he would wake me up to talk to me, say that he couldn't keep it in his head any longer, he needs to tell someone..."_

"_What is it, then?"_

_Kevin frowned, shuffling his feet uncomfortably. "Well, I'm not supposed to say, but..." Looking at Jennifer's pleading look, he relented. "Okay, well, apparently, Ryoma was in love with this person since middle school, actually, since seeing her the first time in kindergarten from the back of the class, he liked her, but they only started talking in middle school, so that's where he fall in love. And well, he missed her, and he complained that the contract is well..." Kevin trailed off, realising that he had said too much._

_Jennifer raised her eyebrow. Ryoma? Complain about the contract. He always looked satisfied enough. She looked at Ryoma, who was practising, with his usual poker face on. _

"_Well, thanks." She said, bored, shooing Kevin away._

_~hint #3_

"_What do you want?" Ryoma asked, gulping a little. Jennifer chuckled, it's rare to see him that scared._

"_I'm bored of the other guys, since you're pretty new, and that I've always had a liking towards you, let's make out." Jennifer said bluntly, coming closer to Ryoma while he backed away._

"_I have no business with you..." Ryoma said, trying to get as far away from his team manager as possible._

"_If you play with me, I'll give you more breaks." Jennifer prompted. Ryoma shook his head hard._

_Jennifer stuck his lips out as Ryoma leaves. Hmm, maybe the thing about this girl he liked was true. But he'll come back soon._

_A few practice later, Ryoma came back, panting and sweating a lot._

"_Keep it a secret." He said. Jennifer smiled._

_~hint #4_

"_Ryoma, what are you staring at?" Jennifer asked._

_Ryoma was staring outside the window, spacing out. "Nothing much..." He said, not moving his gaze._

"_Tell me..." Jennifer crooned, smoothing Ryoma's hair. Ryoma hit her hand away. _

"_Is there anyway I can end the contract earlier?"_

"_Dig out billions of dollars and I may consider." Jennifer smiled. Not many people get to see Ryoma's beaten expression._

_-Flashback ends-_

Jennifer sighed. From the beginning it was so obvious Ryoma hated this contract no matter how commited he was. It was only natural for him to want to break the rules.

But she won't let that spoilt child run wild. He signed the contract, he received all the benefits from it, and he's going to keep to the contract.

"Kevin." She called. The shocked boy hesitated, and rushed forward.

XxXxX

"Che, why did the sempai-tachi appear so suddenly." Ryoma said irritably. They had suddenly appeared out of nowhere with Sakuno and assumed control over his training, even though it was rather useful as Inui has all the data of his opponent. So many people appearing wanting to suffocate him, he could not get any paramount amount of alone time, and he needed it.

"They came to support you for your next competition." Sakuno said. "You should be grateful."

"Yeah whatever." Ryoma said, pulling Sakuno closer. "I just find it annoying that I don't have any private time to spend with you."

Sakuno blushed. Ryoma smiled and reached forward to kiss her, not missing any precious time with the seniors not around.

"Oh! Look, look! Ochibi is going to kiss Sakuno-chan!" Eiji shouted, as some other sempai swiftly took out their cameras. Echizen jerked his head away from Sakuno. How did they get here?

"Go for it Echizen!" They were shouting.

Ryoma glared at them and walked away, grabbing Sakuno along. When was he going to be granted some alone time with Sakuno?

"Echizen, come on." Momoshiro shouted after him, disappointed.

"Why, are you embarrassed to be with Sakuno?" Fuji asked cheekily.

Ryoma stopped. He turned around, and was a loss of words. Damn, whatever Fuji said seemed to have a strong impact on Sakuno, as she was staring at him with a sad expression. He frowned. Che, alright, then. If they were not going to give him privacy, he's going to make them. He pulled Sakuno closer, and kissed her.

Sakuno's eyes widened in shock as they kissed more ferociously, with Ryoma's right hand travelling down her waist, his left hand going under her shirt. Sakuno could not take the impact and fall onto the ground, with Ryoma pinning her down on top.

"I...I think we should leave them alone..." Kawamura suggested. And everyone agreed.

Ryoma smiled secretly. His plan succeeded. Not only that, he got a perfect excuse to fully taste Sakuno too...

XxXxX

"You liked Sakuno too, don't you?"

Tomoka stopped dead in her tracks. Someone liked Sakuno? Who? Other than Ryoma, which was pretty obvious. Tomoka smiled as she crept forward to where the conversation was starting. It's rare to have such good information to gossip about.

"H...how do you..."

"Of course I knew. It's very obvious, the way you looked at her."

A woman was sitting on a bench, with her legs folded. Opposite her was Kevin, sitting uncomfortably, blushing deeply.

"Well, I... yeah, I do like her." Kevin admitted.

Oh ho ho, Kevin liked Sakuno. Ryoma had competition. Tomoka rubbed her hands excitedly as she found out something interesting. She's going to have so much fun matchmaking now.

"...Well, you do realise that Sakuno liked Ryoma, don't you?"

Kevin looked down sadly. "Yeah, can't help it."

The woman leaned forward. "Want to snatch her back? I'll help you."

"W...what?" Kevin asked, slightly moving away from the woman who was now leaning very close to him.

"Ryoma is too close to her. I want them to separate. You can help me, and you get to get your Sakuno back. How's that?"

Kevin blinked, and took a while digesting what she said.

Tomoka stared. This was getting too interesting for her, she could not take it anymore. Someone was trying to pull Sakuno and Ryoma, the fated pair, the pair she had always been supporting, to pull them apart. Well, it's not going to happen! Whoever this woman was, she's going to get it! And Kevin too!

"I'm going to tell the sempai-tachi!" She said to herself, as she crept away hurriedly.

XxXxX

_Finally, the day has come. The match that everyone had been waiting to see, and had been postponed and anticipated by thousands of fans. The match that will determine the champion of the grand slam. The match between Echizen Ryoma and XXXXXX._

_Echizen, who was the one that initiated the postponement, seemed to be having some trouble over the week, what with the attack and his injury. In his state of health, he is slightly disadvantaged in this match. Let's hope his state of mind and will gives him power to compete fairly with XXXXXX, and gives the fans over here who has been waiting for this match the match of the lifetime!_

_There he goes, walking into the court. He looks fine, without the injury that he had during the attack, and in very good shape! A look of confident as always, let's hope we get a very good match._

_And XXXXXX..._

"Ahh, the commentor is so talkative." Eiji complained, jumping about. "And I can't see Ochibi! There are so many people here blocking my view!" Eiji jumped a few more times before giving up, sitting back down on the seat, sulking.

"Well, this is the cheapest seat available, no surprise that the view will be horrible." Inui said.

"And I wanted to get a good view on Echizen." Momoshiro said, slumping.

"Where's Sakuno-chan, and Tomoka-chan?" Oishi asked suddenly, realising that one person was missing.

"Tomoka and Sakuno's in front, in the VIP seat. I hear Sakuno's seat's the closest seat to Ryoma himself."

"Eh, so lucky."

"Ryoma and Sakuno seems to have gotten pretty close."

"Yeah. Finally, after all that work. Phew. Our work pays off, huh?"

"No, I don't think it was because of our work..."

XxXxX

Sakuno was invited to the VIP seats again. Thank goodness Ryoma got her a special VIP seat that is secluded from other people, or she will have to spend the rest of her pocket money to buy some Ryoma merchandise, or the fans would just scratch her face and strangle her, the way they were looking at her now. But this VIP seat was not really a legible seat, right?

"Ne, Ryoma..." She asked the green-haired boy who was tying his shoelaces. "I thought this seat is for bench coaches."

"It is, but well, coach won't mind if you shared his seat. He gets lonely seating there watching me. He'll be happy to have a cute girl llike you seating next to him." Sakuno blushed when Ryoma called her cute.

"But well, the people behind me...they are..." Sakuno gulped, as those fans seating on a real VIP seat behind the bench were reaching out for Ryoma, and Sakuno as well (most probably to harm her).

"Don't care about them." Ryoma pushed the matter away easily.

"But..." Sakuno bit her lips in fear. She was not used to this, now people were staring at her so fervently. She did not like having people angry at her, she did not even liked people being angry. Every time someone loses their temper, Sakuno would be the one who tried her best to calm them down. They were Ryoma's fans, and it was obvious they would be angered seeing Ryoma bringing a girl to the bench. Ryoma did not have to do this...

Ryoma sighed. "Can't be helped. You worry too much." He bent down. "If we do this, then they won't complain right?" He pulled Sakuno closer, and pecked her forehead softly. Sakuno could hear a commotion break out behind her.

"Ryoma..." Sakuno blushed. Ryoma seemed to kiss her a lot ever since...

"I needed that to survive this opponent. Anyway the more worked up the crowd are, the more excited I am." Ryoma smiled as he petted Sakuno.

"Ryoma!"

Ryoma stood up. "Coach." He greeted.

A muscular man walked towards them. Sakuno stared at his scarily serious face until a smile that did not seem to fit in appeared across that scarily serious face. "Oh hi, you must be Sakuno, Ryoma's girlfriend, huh?"

"Y...yeah..." Sakuno nodded, shaking hands awkwardly with the man. "You're Ryoma's coach?"

"Yup. I'm this brat's coach." The man returned to his scarily serious expression, with a more angry glint in his eyes and turned to Ryoma. "You, after me going all out training you these limited days, I expect you to win this no matter what, or I won't forgive you. Put your practice into good use! Remember what we did that time!"

"Yes sir."

"Go all out immediately. Do not lose your stamina in between. I'm sure our training is way tougher than this match. Win this match."

"Yes sir."

"That is all. Do your best. I repeat, win this match!"

"I heard you." Ryoma said irritably as he turned around to go to the courts.

Sakuno stared at Ryoma's leaving figure. She felt like she needed to say something.

"Um..."

Ryoma stopped, and turned his head.

Sakuno blushed. "Gambatte!" She clenched her fist and pumped it to the air.

Ryoma smiled. "Ahh."

XxXxX

"Ooh, I see Ochibi! He's going into the court!"

"Where, where?"

"Oh I see him! Go, Echizen!"

"Gambatte!"

"Yudan sezu ni ikō!"

"Er, Tezuka, I don't think he heard that."

~ lalalala the match begins!

(I'm sorry I don't want to describe a match. Go watch a random episode of PoT)

Ryoma pointed his tennis racket at XXXXXX. His whole body was drenched with sweat as if he had just gotten out of a bath. He tried his best not to pant to hard, even though he was damn tired. This opponent was better than he had thought. Well ofcourse, this is the Grand Slam. But...

"Mada mada dane." He said, smiling his usual cocky smile. Gosh he sure missed saying this, but well, he's a grand slam champion now.

"What?" XXXXXX stared back at him, uncomprehensive. "I'm sorry, I don't understand Japanese."

Ryoma shrugged. Damn, he's too tired to be a translator now. He walked slowly back to the bench as the crowd cheered for him. He won.

Of course he won. Ryoma had never really lost to someone before. He smiled as he collected he trophy. He won. Finally. Now he's one of the youngest Grand Slam winners ever. He remembered Jennifer saying that the team will pull him up to at least a third in grand slam. Well, he's happy with being champion.

"Ryoma, you won!" Sakuno ran up to him and hugged him.

"Sakuno..." How long had he always wanted Sakuno to hug him like this? Ever since that day, when Sakuno hugged a boy, thanking him for picking up a stupid wood block for her. That was when? During kindergarten? He had liked Sakuno for so long, huh. In normal circumstances, a boy liking a girl this long... By this time they should be in bed.

"Let's sleep together."

"Huh?" Sakuno frowned.

"I've been waiting too long." Ryoma said, kissing Sakuno fiercely. Sakuno's mouth was so sweet, it tasted even better than mom's cooking, absolutely delicious.

Ryoma suddenly felt his fatigue that he had been holding on for so long going into his head, and he could not see Sakuno as everything went black. Oh my gosh, where is Sakuno's mouth, I can't see it. Heck it, Sakuno taste good everywhere.

"Ryoma! Ryoma!"

XxXxX

"What happened? What happened? Inui do you see anything?"

"Hmm, wait don't push the binoculars will drop... Hmm, apparently Ryoma fainted."

"..."

"..."

"What?"

Inui smiled. "But I got some good photos taken."

XxXxX

_End of chapter. :D_

_Hope it's not too fast. If it's a great drop in quality, tell me please, and I'll try to make it better. If not, I'll just concentrate on next chapter (prob the last one)._


	13. Chapter 13

_Hi, this is the last chapter! Enjoy!_

He fainted again. This is so embarassing. Worse, he fainted in front of Sakuno. And he had bragged a lot to Sakuno about this match. Sakuno must be expecting some kind of wonderful performance, and a glorious victory, with a delicious dinner to look forward to after this (this was what Ryoma had planned). And he had just ruined everything by fainting.

Couldn't he just hold it for a longer time? At least fainting in the car would be better, it would be passed off as sleeping. After so much practice, his willpower is not there yet. Mada mada dane...

"Ryoma? Are you awake?"

Sakuno's voice. It was as sweet as ever. Well, he must be in the hospital, again. This is the third time. Can't believe it. He couldn't bear to open his eyes and see Sakuno. Her face must be filled with disappointment.

"Ryoma, I know you are awake. Wake up." Sakuno started shaking him.

Reluctantly, Ryoma opened his eyes, and saw Sakuno seating next to him, smiling. "How long have I been asleep?"

Sakuno chuckled. "Not long, only thirty minutes."

"Hn." Phew, that was a relieve. At least being out for thirty minutes was not very humiliating.

Sakuno stood up. "Well, I'll go tell everyone that you are awake." She ran towards the door.

"No, wait." Ryoma grabbed her hands and stopped her. "Stay with me for a while. I don't want them to disturb my moment of peace."

Sakuno blushed. "Okay." She sat back down.

XxXxX

Kevin shuffled uncomfortably as the two girls glared at him. Gosh, what did he do? He could understand Jennifer's fury, but why is this other girl whom he had never met before glaring at him?

The other people noticed the intensity, and stared at Kevin too, as if that could help them realise the reason behind the girls staring at him.

Sakuno appeared out of the room, breaking the silence.

"Phew, Sakuno, never in my life was I so glad to see you." Kevin rushed over to Sakuno. "Ryoma's alright?"

Sakuno smiled. "He's alright."

Kevin stared at Sakuno as she smiled. "He woke up a long time ago, right? And you two did something, right?"

Sakuno blushed, and shook her head vigorously. "I...I did not! Kevin, how can you think that... Mou!" Kevin laughed. Sakuno was still as cute as ever. Lucky Ryoma...

"You get away from Sakuno!" The girl pushed Kevin away roughly.

"Tomo-chan?" Sakuno asked, uncomprehending, as Kevin stared back equally lost. So this girl is called Tomo-chan, and it seemed Sakuno did not know what happened to her either.

"What's wrong with you, lady? You're glaring at me throughout for the past 30 minutes, what did I do to you?" Kevin asked.

"You should know it yourself!" Tomoka spat back.

"What? I don't know!" Kevin frowned. She looked just a bit familiar, like he had seen her before somewhere... Hmm, maybe she was Ryoma's friend?

Jennifer walked past him. "If anything happens to Ryoma, you're going to regret it." She whispered as she walked towards Ryoma's room.

"Ryoma's not that weak." He answered. He watched as Jennifer stomped away angrily. He checked his watch. Whoa it's three thirty already. Better get going.

He walked away, with that weird girl glaring at him.

XxXxX

"Why were you glaring at Kevin?" Sakuno asked, noticing her friend's glare.

"I can't believe you didn't know, and you were so friendly with him!" Tomoka turned around angrily, facing Sakuno. "That person, Kevin, or whatever he's called, he's trying to break you and Ryoma apart!"

"Eh, Ochibi's in trouble!" Eiji exclaimed. "Sakuno-chan, you're in big trouble!"

"But don't worry, we'll protect you!" Momoshiro said, raising a thumbs-up towards Sakuno.

Sakuno frowned. "I'm sure Kevin isn't that type of person..."

"I heard him and that other woman conversing, and they are in cahoots!" Tomoka insisted.

Sakuno shook her head adamantly. "I know him. He won't do this kind of thing."

"You know him?"

"Er...I dated him for a while before..." Sakuno blushed, scratching her head.

"What?" The alumni of Seigaku regular all shouted at once.

Inui started writing on his notepad. "Then all the information I collected was wrong, since I had assumed that Sakuno had been with Echizen since she first came..."

"Well, it is rather boring to date only one person throughout your whole life." Eiji mused. The others nodded in agreement.

"Baka Sakuno!" Tomoka scolded. "If you dated him before, it's obvious he still loved you, then obviously he would want to tear you two apart!"

The others nodded in agreement.

"But..." Sakuno did not know what to say. What they were saying was quite true... "You said you heard him discuss with Jennifer?"

"Yeah. You better beware of them." Tomoka said darkly.

The others nodded in agreement. Sakuno bit her lips. She could not believe it either, but Tomoka never lied to her. It couldn't be...Kevin really...discussed with Jennifer...? Recently too many people had been asking her to break up with Ryoma, and she had thought Kevin as one of the few that would support them with his heart, how could Kevin betray her trust?

"Sakuno." Kevin popped his head in, only to find everyone staring at him. He flustered in surprise at the sudden attention. "Erm, well, I left my racket in the room. Can you pass me the room keys?"

"Okay." Sakuno dug for the room keys. "There you go." She was about to give it to Kevin, when Tomoka stopped her.

"If you are thinking of tearing our dream pair apart, we will not let you!" Tomoka said.

"What?" Kevin stared at Tomoka as if she was crazy. "Whatever, I have already concluded that whatever you say will make no sense whatsoever." He shrugged, reaching out for the keys. Sakuno clenched her fist shut, making Kevin blinked in confusion.

"Sakuno?"

"What did you say with Jennifer?" Sakuno asked. She wanted to make sure.

Kevin stared at Sakuno, and tried to understand what were they talking about. Jennifer? Talking? When did he ever talked to Jennifer. She ignored him mostly. And something about breaking a certain dreampair up. What dreampair? Kevin scratched his head, as everyone stared at him.

Wait, he did talked to Jennifer, yesterday. Maybe, Tomoka overheard it? Then the dreampair would be... Ryoma and Jennifer? Ew that was absolutely gross, why would anyone support that?

Thinking about the two really being together, Kevin could not help but laugh out loud.

"What are you laughing about?" Tomoka demanded.

"Nothing." Kevin calmed down. Couldn't believe Sakuno's friends were supporting Jennifer. Didn't Sakuno love Ryoma? He stared at Sakuno, who looked quite sad. He turned to the others. "You know, if you really are Sakuno's friend, you guys should break them apart."

"What?" Everyone stared at Kevin, shocked. Including Sakuno. What do they mean by what? Wasn't it pretty obvious. I mean, come on, Ryoma, and Jennifer? 'And I thought Sakuno loved Ryoma. It couldn't be...that she was bluffing?' Kevin thought, a sense of anger arousing. And Ryoma had loved Sakuno so much that Kevin had willingly given up on her. Sakuno, how could you?

"I don't get it." Kevin said, looking at Sakuno with a dumb and confused look. "I thought you had always wanted this..."

"No I don't!" Sakuno broke out. "I couldn't believe you really are the type of person that would get jealous and break people up. I thought...we were supposed to be friends, nothing more. But whatever you do, after all those years of separation, you won't break us apart, I won't let you, because I love Ryoma!"

Sakuno glared at Kevin, as she heard her heart beat hard onto her chest. This was the loudest and longest speech she ever dared to give publicly.

"Sakuno-chan..." Eiji said, as Momoshiro put his arm around Sakuno.

"Ptf...HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Kevin laughed, hugging his stomach, as everyone stared at each other, trying to figure out what was happening.

Someone whistled. "I shall take that as a confession. Not like I need anymore of it."

Sakuno turned around and saw Ryoma leaning on the door. She felt her blood rushing up to her face as she realised that Ryoma must have listened to her all this while. "R...Ryoma, you're out already. Are you...are you feeling better?"

"Of course, how can I not feel better?" Ryoma smiled. "Jennifer is inside, generating a new contract." He wrapped his right arm around Sakuno's waist and pulled her closer. "She's agreeing to make you my official mate. Fans do like pairings. But my 'stay away from the outside world and no communications' still goes."

He turned to Kevin. "So how about you, Kev. Why are my seniors and Sakuno staring at you with such hostility."

"Ryoma-sama, he's trying to break you two apart!" Tomoka rushed forward, pointing accusingly at Kevin.

"Whoa, whoa, not true, not true! Miscommunication problem here!" Kevin said in between his laughter as he pulled Tomoka backwards.

"I think I know what's the problem..."

~Flashing back

"_...Well, you do realise that Sakuno liked Ryoma, don't you?"_

_Kevin looked down sadly. "Yeah, can't help it." Sakuno was too cute._

_Jennifer leaned forward. "Want to snatch her back? I'll help you."_

"_W...what?" Kevin asked, slightly moving away from Jennifer who was now leaning very close to him._

"_Ryoma is too close to her. I want them to separate. You can help me, and you get to get your Sakuno back. How's that?"_

_Kevin blinked, and took a while digesting what she said. Separate? Jennifer wants to separate Ryoma and Sakuno?_

"_I'm not helping you."_

"_Why? You do want Sakuno to be back by your side, do you?" Jennifer asked._

"_Well, it's true..." He did want to be back in those days, when he and Sakuno would go out together. "But Sakuno won't be happy."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_I mean, Sakuno don't like me. She won't be happy with me. Anyway, she loves Ryoma a lot, and Ryoma loves her too, well, I won't be doing any good breaking them apart. Both of them will die in sorrow. I can't have that."_

"_What a noble thinking." Jennifer shook her head. "Relationship grows you know. She'll eventually be happy with you, and it would be safer with you than with Ryoma. She'll appreciate it."_

"_I told her, that it would be dangerous being with Ryoma, but apparently she don't heed my advice."_

"_So make her."_

_Kevin stared at Jennifer, who was looking at her with such expectance. This conversation is going nowhere._

"_Why do you want them to break apart anyway?" Kevin asked._

_Jennifer shrugged. "It's the contract. With her around, she destroys everything I have planned. And Ryoma's practice."_

"_You do realise it's because of Sakuno that Ryoma did so well, do you?" Kevin said. It was true, Ryoma was unexpectedly good in the match, he had never been this good, ever. And it was certain that Jennifer noticed it. _

"_And fans do like pairings. I can bet you that there are more pairings shippers than fans that want their idol to themselves." Kevin added. And that's when Jennifer's eyes lit up._

"_Clever, Kevin. Extremely ingenious."_

~ Flashback ends

"Eh, so that's how it is..." Eiji said.

"Looks like we have misunderstood you. Sorry about that." Oishi apologised.

"It's okay." Kevin shrugged. He turned to Tomoka. "Well, someone really needs to apologise for pretending they know everything when they don't, and for glaring at me all day."

Tomoka flushed in embarrassment. "You said it was okay!" She stomped away angrily.

"Oh so you were the one that suggested that stupid pairing thing." Ryoma said.

"What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing is wrong, just that it increased the amount of stuff I have to do to please the fans." Ryoma said. "She's trying to portray a loving couple image."

"You're doing quite well already."

"Shut up. What I mean is that, Sakuno is involved too. I think Jennifer that training maniac is going to force Sakuno into some weird training. Probably a makeover, and maybe...make her boobs bigger or something..." Ryoma trailed away. He added quickly in Sakuno's ears. "Not that you need it."

"Mou..." Sakuno blushed, and Ryoma kissed her. The others stared.

Kevin coughed.

"You know, I think we should leave now."

The others nodded in agreement.

XxXxX

"You're going to PROPOSE?"

"Shh!" Ryoma signaled to them to quiten down. It was so embarrassing being with the sempai-tachi. Look, everyone was staring at them now. "Sit down, for goodness' sake."

The sempai-tachi sat down, after standing up and slamming the table down in shock, but continued to stare at Ryoma as if they have just been notified that the government would be giving out one thousand dollars to everyone of them.

"I can't believe this..." Eiji said. The rest nodded in agreement.

"THE Ryoma, proposing..." Momoshiro added.

"Can't wait to see it, gotta video it and post it." Fuji smiled, digging out his camera.

"Bet there would be a billion over viewers..." Kawamura said.

Inui jumped up as if he had been shocked back to reality, and started digging out for his notebook. "Have to take...this valuable data down..."

"Why do you ask us this?" Tezuka asked.

Ryoma scratched his head. Yeah, why did he ask them? It was common sense that they would not be of much help anyway, with them overreacting just by him saying 'I want to propose to Sakuno.' "Well, I thought you would know what to do, since you're the sempai."

They stared at each other.

"Ochibi is trusting us!"

"This important event of the life is entrusted upon us!"

"Don't worry, Echizen, we will make sure you steal Sakuno-chan's heart completely!"

"This will be the project of our lives, Echizen!"

"We will not let you down!"

"Count on us seniors!"

"Let's get working now!"

"Yudan sezu ni ikō!"

Sigh. This was the reason why he hesitated a lot when Kevin suggested him to ask his seniors for help. This was all Jennifer's fault, asking him to get married with Sakuno as fast as possible. First she was all absolutely angry about Sakuno being with Ryoma, trying everything to get Ryoma to leave her. Now, she kept doing irritating stuff to make them as close to each other as possible. Not that he didn't like it.

Now she's telling him to get married with Sakuno. When she told him that, she was acting as if they're going to be husband and wife tomorrow.

Ryoma sat on the restaurant table, staring gloomily as his seniors discussed enthusiastically. He had to do this sooner or later anyway. It had been about one year already, and the RyoSaku pairing really seemed to work out very well, and Sakuno was getting more and more popular, she needed body guards when going to school. He had asked her to stop school for Heaven's sake, but no, she wants to study.

Well, marrying was the best choice to get all the guys away from her permanently. Sakuno and him was already as close as married. But... when it comes down to it, he did not know what to do, and now part of him want to drop out and forget all this proposing crap.

"Hey, hey Ochibi! We have come up with the ideas already!" Eiji said, placing five sheets of proposals in front of Ryoma. "Come, choose one!"

Ryoma read the first one.

~After reading all five~

"This is utterly retarded." Ryoma said, throwing the proposals onto the table.

"Eh, why, Ochibi? How about my idea?" Eiji asked.

"Your idea is the most horrible idea of all." Ryoma said cruelly, leaving his senior depressed.

"Well, I think you can combine them all, take the good parts, discard the so-called retarded parts, then a perfect plan." Tezuka suggested.

Ryoma thought about it. "Good idea, Captain." He took a pen and a paper, and started writing.

XxXxX

"Sakuno, hurry up!" Ryoma called.

"Matte, Ryoma!" Sakuno answered, doing last minute tidying up of her hair. It was so sweet of Ryoma to remember that today was the day when Sakuno first met Ryoma (she couldn't believe Ryoma remembered it!). It had been about...what? Seven years? Ryoma had decided to commemorate it by going out on a date. It had been a really long time since they really went for a date. Mostly, Ryoma was just too busy.

She adjusted her skirt. She had to present herself nicely at least to Ryoma. It was their special day, and a very special date, as quoted by Ryoma.

An arm wrapped around her waist from her back.

"Stop wasting time adjusting. You look pretty enough already." Ryoma whispered to Sakuno's ear.

"Mou, Ryoma, you scared me." Sakuno pouted, blushing slightly.

"Come on, let's go." Ryoma said, pulling Sakuno out of the house.

"Where are we going?" Sakuno asked as she went in the car.

Ryoma blinked. "Where?"

"Yeah, where?" Sakuno stared at Ryoma, who stared back with a confused, dumb look. "You know, for our date?"

Ryoma shrugged. "No idea."

"You don't know?" Sakuno exclaimed.

Ryoma shifted uncomfortably. "Don't worry, we'll know once we get there."

XxXxX

They arrived at the 'sushi store'. It was better than expected. He had thought that it would be like Kawamura's sushi store, but this one was like a real high-class restuarant. At least they would not look so bad dining here.

Ryoma had bought this place down, under the seniors' recommendation, and they had changed it to a wonderful restaurant. He did not bothered to check the venue, thinking that it was enough for only the chaffeur to know. Why didn't he asked Kawamura-sempai what they were going to turn this place into? At least he would have some idea. A moment ago, it was so weird, admitting to Sakuno that he did not know where they were going. Thank goodness Sakuno did not press on.

Sempai-tachi's preparations, it had better be good.

Ryoma opened the door.

"Welcome!" A waiter greeted them. "A table for two, I presume."

"Yes." Ryoma answered.

"Please follow me." The waiter said, leading them to their table.

Ryoma stared at the waiter. _The hairstyle, the brown hair, the closed eyes. It's Fuji-sempai in disguise alright. Good job in the disguise. _He turned around. The other 'customers' in the restaurant looked vaguely familiar too. _There's Kikumaru-sempai. He's the most obvious one, snickering his way. Inui-sempai...Kaidoh-sempai...Momoshiro-sempai has good disguise too...Ooh, Captain is a waiter too...Oishi-sempai and Kawamura-sempai are sitting together..._

"Eh, it's so pretty here." Sakuno exclaimed, looking around. They had really done a good job in these decorations.

Ryoma looked around. Not bad in the designs.

He had asked his seniors to pretend to occupy this place, knowing Sakuno did not like Ryoma buying the whole place just for them. And he get to protect them from spying fans too. Two birds in one stone.

"I'll get any thing that the chef recommends." Ryoma said before Fuji put the menu down on the table.

Fuji smiled at him. "Okay."

A few minutes later(that was fast, they must have prepared it all beforehand), the dish arrived. Ryoma stared in shock: two heart-shaped onigiri, traced together with Sashimi. Another heart ring surrounds the whole thing with different variety of Sushi. On a small black plate was wasabi, forming the words 'Ryoma N Sakuno 4eva".

Ryoma frowned at the design. This was what Kawamura claimed as his 'special couple dish'. It was so... heart-ish... And what was that? Ryoma and Sakuno forever? Who came up with that phrase?

"Oh, Ryoma that's so sweet!" Sakuno squealed, blushing deeply.

Well, Sakuno seemed to like it. "Glad you liked it." Ryoma shrugged.

Sakuno hugged Ryoma happily, and they pulled for a kiss. Mm, Sakuno's kiss always tasted so good.

Ryoma picked up the chopstick, and reached for the sushi.

"No, Ryoma! You'll destroy the whole thing!" Sakuno said.

"Well, we have to eat it sooner or later."

"But, it's so nice, I don't want it to be eaten..."

Great, now Sakuno wants them to starve to death.

"Come on, Sakuno, it's meant to be eaten."

"Mou..." Sakuno pouted. "I know!" She exclaimed, enlightened, digging out her phone. "I'll take a picture of it!" She took a picture of it. Ryoma sighed in relieve. "Okay, so can we eat now? Itadakimasu."

Ryoma grabbed the first sushi, and ate it, as Sakuno groaned at the heart frame being destroyed. Wow, this really is delicious. It has been a long time since he ate any Japanese food, and he did not realise how much he had missed it. He turned to Sakuno, who was not touching the food. "It's very good, you should try some..."

Sakuno took a sushi reluctantly, but hesitated when she reached the wasabi sauce. She did not want to destroy that 'Ryoma N Sakuno 4eva' thing...

Sighing, Ryoma grabbed a sushi, dipped it mercilessly at the 'Ryoma' in the wasabi sauce, and fed it to Sakuno.

Sakuno blinked, and chewed a little more.

"Delicious!"

Ryoma smiled. "If you are so unwilling to eat, I'll force feed you, you hear?"

She blushed. "I...don't mind." She said softly, embarrassed.

Ryoma pulled her closer, and stuffed another sushi in her mouth. "Mada mada dane."

XxXxX

It had been a long time since she ate proper Japanese food. Ahh, how much she missed Japan. Grandmother, is she doing well? Hope she doesn't injure herself. The last time, she sprained her ankle from playing tennis. She had adviced her so many times to retire and stop playing tennis already, she's getting old. But well, grandmother is that stubborn. I wonder is she watching the tennis matches of Ryoma, and reading about him in the tennis magazine, feeling proud of her student. And feeling proud of her granddaughter, getting him as a boyfriend...

Sakuno felt herself blush as she thought about it.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Eh?" She answered, snapping out of her thoughts. "Nothing, Ryoma."

Ryoma stared at her, obviously not believing her. "Eat your ice-cream before I finish it all up."

"Okay." She said, scooping a big one out of the strawberry ice-cream.

She watched as the waiter cleared the dish after they finished the ice-cream. The waiter looked familiar, like she had seen him somewhere before. But, where...?

"Sakuno." Ryoma was standing outside on the balcony of the shop. "Come."

Sakuno walked forward, and stood at where Ryoma pointed. She gasped at the view below her.

The garden was litted up with small candles, it looked like tiny fireflies flickering around, surrounding the bushes. The bushes were especially cut into Sakuno's name, with the last O in the shape of a heart. Pink flowers dotted each bush as the scent flew into Sakuno's nose.

"Ryoma..." Sakuno felt her tear coming up. She had been holding up the tears ever since she first saw the sushi, and now, she could not help it. She couldn't believe that Ryoma did this for her. It was so romantic! She had never imagined herself in this situation, and this shocked her thoroughly. "This is so..." She stopped halfway, unable to speak.

Ryoma kissed her tears away from her eyes. He dug into his pocket, and gave Sakuno a tennis ball.

_I love you Sakuno _was written on the tennis ball. "Aw...R..Ryoma..."

"Turn it around." Ryoma said.

Sakuno turned it around, and her eyes widened in shock as she read the words, hands shaking in disbelief, surprise, happiness, excitement, lots of positive emotions mixed up together.

_Will you marry me?_

"I...I..." Sakuno stammered. Ryoma was proposing? The tears flowed down her cheeks as she smiled in surprise and elation as Ryoma went down in his knees.

"Will you..." Ryoma asked, blushing deeper than she had ever seen before. "Will you marry me?"

Sakuno did not wait for Ryoma to finish the sentence as she threw herself onto Ryoma. "Yes yes yes yes yes yes!" She kissed Ryoma suddenly, throwing him off guard.

Ryoma laughed a bit when they broke apart from the excited kiss. "I rented a room here, wanna go?"

Sakuno kissed him back, which Ryoma assumed it as a yes, as he moved slowly out of the balcony.

This was definitely the most special date ever.

XxXxX

"Wow this is better than expected."

"Glad our idea worked."

"Ryoma had better keep his promise about buying us a hundred burgers each if we succeed."

"Fujiko, why are you laughing at yourself?"

"...Hm? Well, I feel happy for them."

"I see... I feel happy for them too! Let's celebrate with sushi!"

XxXxX

"Ryoma, you are simply too great."

Ryoma stared at Kevin. What's with the guy? Ever since training started he had stared at him with such respect in his eyes. Well, actually everyone was staring at him funny, but that sentence of Kevin totally threw him off. Kevin actually admitted that Ryoma was great, when previously no matter how many times Ryoma proved to him he would never, ever admit it. What's wrong with him today? Where's his usual competetive mood?

"Kevin?"

"I can't believe it Ryoma. I thought you were just some kind of cocky boy with an irritating amount of pride and talent, but it seems, that you are not the proud boy I used to know anymore."

"Kevin?"

Kevin grabbed Ryoma and hugged him. "You have touched my heart, Ryoma, you are the most romantic person I have ever known."

"No, seriously, Kevin, what's wrong with you?" Ryoma pushed Kevin away.

"There's nothing wrong with me, I bet everyone feels the same way. After all, that video is so popular."

"Video, what video?"

Kevin blinked. "What? You don't know? The most popular video in YouTube, with... oh i don't know how many digits were there, seven...maybe eight? And it's the most talked about video, I mean, everywhere, everyone is talking about it. The magazines even took eight whole pages dedicated to RyoSaku and that video..."

A sense of dread flowed through Ryoma. He grabbed Kevin, stopping him midway. "What video is that?"

"The one where you proposed?"

"The one where I..." Ryoma stopped halfway, as he started to get enlightened.

"Fuji-sempai..."

XxXxX

Somewhere, out there, an extremely healthy person suddenly sneezed two times in a row.

"Am I sick?" Fuji wiped his nose, thinking.

XxXxX

_I shall now conclude the end of this series! 13 chapters, hehe, lucky number! _

_Hopefully it's not too crappy. :P I always do crappily for last chapter. _

_Well, people who read this and have not reviewed at all, please do so now, and tell me what do you think of the whole thing. Was it good? :) I might not write anymore prince of tennis fanfic until I have a very good idea, so now. Farewell! Hope this year will be another great year for you! :)_


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